Amy Kitchener's Angels Without Wings Foundation
Presents the 2008 Arkansas Senior Poet Laureate


Marcia Camp

MARCIA CAMP, 77, Little Rock, is well known among the community of outstanding poets in the state of Arkansas. Her name appears on many poetry contest winners lists. . Upon reading Marcia's winning poem “Onions” in this contest, the judge said, “Onions made me weep.” Her sign is Virgo.

Onions


make me cry--not the
lush purple Italians or sweet Vidalias--
slim, willowy ones, scallions up North,
but, below the Mason-Dixon, green onions.

They're hardy--a must for any kitchen garden,
a must for someone who tills the soil
to know he's yet a man--still needed,
still defined by useful work
as my father was those final years.

In my back yard, he found a tiny sunny spot,
planted sets from his cousin's truck patch.
He weeded and loosened the soil
with a two-pronged cooking fork.

His onions cling to life now,
two summers since he left them--
tough, misshapen from their struggle,
nodding green tops heavy with sets.

Now my son is home, wounded by life and love.
He told a friend, "I'm back in the room
I had in high school, and
everything l own is in there with me."

He finds a tiny sunny spot, breaks ground,
turning over mounds of tradition,
looking for his roots.
Bending broad shoulders,
thrusting forward a slightly graying head,

he will place each heirloom set with care.
As I watch his shovel search for the courage
of his forebears, see him try to unearth
a reason to go on,
onions make me cry.

Marcia Camp
Little Rock, Arkansas