“Ode to Youth" By Miranda J. Gardner/Photograph from Gardner Family Collection

I began writing poetry in 2018 after my grandmother Doris passed away suddenly. I needed a helpful coping mechanism because I was in great grief. I recalled the stories my grandmother told me about her long-distance bicycle adventures after she graduated from college at 21. She traveled a great distance on a bicycle while riding around Mexico, Central & South America. After reflecting on these experiences, I began going on local bike trips, which aided my recovery.


“Ode to Youth"

Confidants, will you hear me this cold winter day?
For I am inspired
by a conversation with my grandmother
who yearned for youthful days.

Remember hundreds of miles of cycling
and celebrating life, liberty, freedom!

I was enveloped in the kindness of her soul,
as Grandma told me stories

of the Pacific Northwest, Midwest, South America
and cycling adventures,

swimming across Lake Washington in her 70’s
nature walking through the rainy winters of Seattle in her 80’s.

In remembering a youth full of energy and promise,
one must acknowledge that nothing lasts forever,

even when she didn’t take youth for granted,
akin to a blue jay flying against a now melancholy sky.

Is that you, Grandma?
are you free to fly, cycle, explore?

Is that your wings soaring through indigo
skies which turn hostile quickly,

hostile as our bodies turn and twist as
age creeps in and steals our energy?

You told me
in absolute terms

that if you couldn’t take care of yourself
in your old age

you would do it—
you would take your own life.
And you did.

But you live on in me, the trees,
the mushrooms, the dogs that need a companion.

And everything left behind by
you, wonderful athletic lady.