March to a Different Drummer

Wilma McIvor

I have spent most of my life in my home town. When my children were young, I lived in Ottawa. A culturally very different city than the small city I grew up in. Though, Kingston has grown a great deal since I was a child. I fell in love with poetry as a literary form of telling a story from the first time a poem was read to me when I was yet too young to read it myself. I have a son and two daughters who are my heart and soul. The grand children and great grandchild that they have given me have amplified the love I feel in my heart to sometimes bursting with joy. When any of my children and grandchildren are sad, I am sad. When they are happy, I am happy. To feel their pain and find a way to encourage, to know their joy and be able to cheer them on is my greatest desire. I grew up in the country but close to the city. My rural upbringing by parents who filled me with their love and wisdom prepared me well for both the pitfalls and the joyous adventures I would experience after I had grown and fled their protective arms. I shared them with my two sisters and five brothers with whom I have always been connected. For twenty six years, my best friend and partner in life has brought me and my family much joy. His heart was big enough to hold all of us. He is old school and is very funny when he wants to be but aside from his humour, he takes life and his role in it very seriously. He has always been known for his infectuous laugh. I am better for his presence in my life. I have had many career changes throughout my adult life. Having said that, I have been the director of a daycare service for children aged three to thirteen for the past twenty three years. I am a registered early childhood educator with a background education in the social services field. I love to read and to write poetry and prose. I have never attempted to become published as a professional writer. I do it for the love of it and share my material with discretion. I like Poetry.com as a forum to share my poems. My poems can be found in several of the books that were published before the company was sold to Lulu's Poetry Forum. I am glad to see poetry.com back. I am in the process of retrieving seventy some poems of mine that were kept in their archives and am posting them on their new forum. I have had a great response from other poets who have had the opportunity to read and comment on the ones I have posted. I grew up surrounded by music and still love music and all forms of the arts. I am at a good place in time. I look forward to many more years of family,work and writing. The child I am dancing with in my profile picture is my second grandson who is truly a miracle child. While all children are a miracle and every baby born healthy is a miracle, it took a sequence of miracles to keep Mackenzie alive as he was born a way too soon. He is now a happy healthy ten year old. Thanks be to God. We are dancing at my second grand daughter's wedding in the picture. What a happy event that was too. I have experienced periods of pain and periods of joy just as everyone else does. And life goes on. Every day brings a new surprise. more…

All Wilma McIvor poems | Wilma McIvor Books