I’d like to share this poem Mom wrote in 1972. Usually, I try to find a family story to help introduce one of her poems, but not this time.

Here’s what I know: Mom was 42 when she wrote this; we lived in Fairfield, Connecticut. Mom read like a fiend and never missed a chance to learn. Her reference to Erich Fromm is a mystery to me, but surely this poem was influenced by one of the psychoanalyst and philosopher’s books, articles, or interviews.

Ending with Hope

(for Erich Fromm)

Like building blocks the old words waited for
the children in the catechism: faith, hope,
love, and grace. Were they the same squares
wearing different faces or a pyramid of sizes;
still I wonder. Pasting them like pictures in
my head to make my First Communion and the Sisters
smile, I soon released them. I do not know these
definitions now, only their echoes, and people’s
faces mixed among them, lost and found: beginning
with queries about love and art, ending with hope.

~ Joan Vayo July 28, 1972

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“Ending with Hope” © 1972 Joan Vayo. All rights reserved.

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