Poetics Tuesday, and Sarah is
tending the bar. Our challenge is
to feature a concept.
Submitted to dVerse
February 27, 2018
********
Many things I learned from my mother, not the least of which is the art of “making do”. A product of the Great Depression, mother learned never to waste anything, and to repurpose everything. Worn out denims became rag rugs, old clothing went to quilts, the coats became warm comforters. Mother carried her talents beyond housewifely things. A woman before her time, she was more comfortable in britches than dresses. She was a wizard with hammer and saw, and her penchant for repurposing extended to turning old lumber into a doghouse or birdhouse, and an old window became the lid for her hot bed, where she started plants in early Spring. She was a dynamo in britches and a genius in her garden.
Sadly, I didn’t inherit her green thumb, and I’m lucky to hammer a nail without hitting my thumb. But somewhere deep within is her drive to “make do”. I tend not to replace things, because the old one is working perfectly well, if outdated. My “entertainment center” was actually an antique wardrobe with shelves installed. My coffee table was once a “bucket bench” used for milk buckets. Time turned the pages, and I live with my son and wife now…but I drive a 17 year old car. Why replace it, I think, it’s working very well. Mother would be proud!
A blog for the midnight epiphanies and idle thoughts of a hopeless wordaholic.
That is a good lesson to apply to our life today. Make use of something until it doesn't work anymore. Yes, your mother would be proud!
ReplyDeleteThat is a fine thing to do! 🙂 And sometimes, things will not do. And most certainly, people will not do. If they are true Americans. 💛
ReplyDeleteShe sounds like a wonderful lady. We are in such a disposable society. I don't think children realize that possessions used to last for a lifetime. Good for you!
ReplyDeleteMom sounds amazing. I didn't inherit my mother's "knitting thumb", but I did inherit her values.
ReplyDeleteIf out of situation you make best,
ReplyDeletethe being given is a test.
And it is good to have success.
And sometimes it is not, I guess.
💛
Thank you! Rhyming poetry is my first love ... and a touch of humor makes it even better!
DeleteTerrible time, the depression, but so many valuable lessons learned through it. My mom too was a product of that era. Nothing at all ever wasted or thrown out!
ReplyDeleteThere used to be honor in "making do"! We all can make do with less...longer.
ReplyDeleteYou mother reminds me of my grandmother, who practised the art of making do. My mother went the other way, rebelled against it and insisted on everything new. I love rag rugs and quilts! Your prose poem says 'Comfort' to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Kim. So often people used to come into my home, which was filled with antique pieces, quilts, crocks and such and comment "It feels so cozy in here!" The old things DO say comfort.
DeleteThat bucket bench for a coffee table sounds like the perfect coffee table. Keeping things and finding a new purpose for them should that time come when they need a new purpose seems like a respectful way to approach what we have.
ReplyDeleteI fear it's becoming a lost art, Frank! Remember when we used to have small appliances repaired? Now we just throw them away and buy a new one. Sad but true!
DeleteI love the way your mother taught you... it's not by copying but in her philosophy that makes this work... I try to make do as well.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Beverly! That last posting of mine here went to fast. As you see there are 5 syllables in the first line, and there should be four.
ReplyDeleteI believe I might keep the message by writing it as I do below. Maybe, even, the epigram gets better by not being so direct.
If out of it you make the best,
the being given is a test.
And it is good to have success.
And sometimes it is not, I guess.
thriftiness, frugal, careful
ReplyDeleteThere’s a sense of accomplishment, I think, in “making do.” Now the vogue is recycling, or even up-cycling. Somewhat the same thing, I think, but I like the old fashioned words better. Great poem, Bev.
ReplyDeleteI admire your mother. I want to be like her. 😊
ReplyDelete- imelda