Today is Poetry Friday. Our host is the creative Molly Hogan at Nix the Comfort Zone.
Please visit her blog for more poetry and posts! Thanks for hosting Molly!
As most of you know, my mom passed away on July 31st. She was 85 years old. I spent August 1-14th with my Dad at their house. We went through many of her personal effects and provided each other comfort and company.
The day after my mom passed, my Dad had a dream she was welcomed at Heaven’s Gate by family. I shared that post two weeks ago. A week after she passed, my Dad told me that he prayed to my mom that she send us a sign that she was alright. I did not know of his prayer until later that day.
Mid-morning, I asked my dad was the “white thing” in the yard, on the ground, behind a large blue spruce. He replied that he didn’t know. I told him that I had never seen it before and thought maybe it was a mushroom.
Last summer, in August, I found over a dozen different species of mushrooms on our lake property, where we now permanently reside in Wisconsin. I had told my mom about this during one of our previous visits and shared some photos with her. I love to learn new things and there is a lot to learn about fungi!
So, after lunch, I went out to look at the “white thing” in the yard. Sure enough, it was a large mushroom! It looked like a giant puffball to me but I am still a novice at identifying fungi. I went back to tell my Dad and retrieve my phone as well as a ruler to document my find. Dad came with me. We were both amazed by it!
This is what we saw:
A few hours later, my Dad said, “I have something to tell you but it’s corny.” Since he had been sharing life stories with me – which you can read about in my Medium.com post from earlier this week, I wasn’t surprised.
“Oh,” I asked. “What is it?”
He goes on to tell me that when he went to bed the night before, he asked mom to send him a sign that she was right (in heaven). He said, “I think that mushroom is her sign!”
I replied that I didn’t think it was corny at all. After all, the mushroom suddenly appeared after my Dad prayed for a sign from my mom. They never had a mushroom like this in their yard before and it was next to one of her favorite trees!
The appearance of the mushroom gave my dad comfort.
Later that day, he asked if I could somehow work it into my writing. I’ve worked on several versions, but this is the one I like best so far:
In Mom’s Voice…
I sent a sign in a form
She might notice.
She’ll notice, examine, and tell
Her father.
Her father, who asked for a sign
That I was “alright.”
My husband, who saw me in a dream
Being greeted by family.
I sent a sign in a form
She might notice.
She’ll see it as a mushroom,
He’ll see it as a sign.
It wasn’t there the day before
She noticed, and
He connected it to his prayer
For a sign a week after I passed
A sign I am okay,
A sign I am at peace,
A sign I know they’ll recognize
From me inside Heaven’s Gate.
© Draft, Carol Labuzzetta, 2023
I haven’t yet shared this with my dad. I will soon.
Don’t forget the link is open for submissions to my Ekphrastic Nature Poetry Anthology for ages 10 and up. You can find the details here:
https://theapplesinmyorchard.com/ekphrastic-anthology-submissions/
Submissions are open until November 1st. Acceptances are on a rolling basis. Thank you!
The Apples in My Orchard 
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