2/5/09:
I found an interesting little book (only 70 pages) of poems at D.I. last week, entitled Run In The Morning, by poetess Dolores Malaschak of Cahokia, Illinois, and published in 1968. Interestingly, the inside cover has her name and address written in it. I am pretty sure this was her own copy of the book! I found many of the poems intriguing, and powerful in their images. Here are a couple (perhaps I was meant to find this book):
"A Time for Growing Up"
The iron of protocol stamped atoms of being
in that cataclysmic time
when worlds as I had known them
burst into shredded thought
with every tatter caught
on leopard winds
and dragged through fiery catalysts
where childhood liberties
were pegged and spun and purged
and pulled to neatly narrow lines.
"Ides of March"
March morning
electric with promise
calls the jonquil eastward
strokes the mockingbird throat
and spills a nectarine flavor
through greening pavilions.
Furrowed fields
squirm with worms uprooted,
while sheet and blanket sails
fill with a southerly wind
as hope galleons forward
to quicksilver summer seas.
"Scavengers"
Men gather like vultures
at the imminent demise of reputation,
their black words flapping
above the remains,
their sharp innuendoes
tearing away the breath
of explanation.
Unhappily,
talons may slip, leaving
jagged outlines on a brother,
and, vulture-like,
men turn on their own
their black words flapping
in ever tightening circles,
for food is food
and vultures will be fed.
-----------------------------
I like these poems.
Has anyone heard of Dolores Malaschak?
.
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2/7/09:
Dear D. Deles,
What a wonderful coincidence! I am tickled that you knew her. Do you have any pictures of her? Any other poems you could send me?
And why on earth would her book be found in a thrift store in West Jordan, Utah? How did it get here? If you feel comfortable e-mailing me, it's elephantnavel@gmail.com.
5 comments:
I actually knew Mrs. Malaschak personally, and have several books of her poetry. She was a lecturer, a teacher at Southwestern Illinois College, and as you have seen, a poet. She was a sweet old lady when I knew her, with a fat poodle and a knack for music and quilting as well as words. She directed the choir at Cahokia Park United Methodist Church until her death. She died in 2004 from kidney failure.
Coincidentally, I was reading her book "Midnight in the Study" yesterday. It was her copy, with mistakes corrected in her handwriting. This morning I decided to see just how well known of a writer she is, or was.
Good to see that I'm not her only living fan!
~D
I'd like to post a correction to my earlier comment; Mrs. Malaschak died in 2005, not 2004. You'd think I'd be able to keep these things straight, but no.
Thank you for sharing some of Delores Malaschak's poetry. Her son and I were in the same graduating class. Because of my interest in poetry, she presented me with a copy of "Run in the Morning" while still in high school. I cherished that book (though I do not know where it is now) and vowed that I would someday publish a work of my own.
I am sad to see that she is gone. I wanted to send her a copy of my recently published book of poetry, "Buffet of the Mind." She truly was an inspiration that I have carried with me all these years.
Mike, wherever you are, your mother was a truly remarkable woman.
Steaven Snow,
Mike is in North Carolina in the Wilmington area. He is on facebook as Tony Malaschak.
Dave Malaschak
I, too, was a young friend of Delores Malaschak. Her daughter Susan and I were in the same graduating class of 1968. She gave me a signed copy of her book of poetry in March of 1969, which I have treasured all these years. I opened it again this morning and was filled with memories of her and Susan. I spent many hours at the Malaschak home working on school projects with Susan, who I admired and respected a great deal. She was a very talented, bright young woman just like her Mother. Does anyone know of Susan's whereabouts?
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