{"id":3312,"date":"2020-01-03T00:00:36","date_gmt":"2020-01-03T05:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/?p=3312"},"modified":"2020-03-23T16:12:44","modified_gmt":"2020-03-23T20:12:44","slug":"january-3-two-poems-from-mary-tobacco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2020\/01\/03\/january-3-two-poems-from-mary-tobacco\/","title":{"rendered":"January 3 – two poems from Mary Tobacco"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday, January 3 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0two poems written by Mary Tobacco, my soul friend for years; one about coaching a promising young man; \u00a0one a birthday poem Mary wrote to me<\/p>\n

Post # 1 \u00a0\u201c<\/strong>a note to a high school boy\u2019s basketball coach\u201d<\/p>\n

he is good young man,
\nyes, his grades aren\u2019t the best, yet.
\nsure, he is skinny
\nbut, why not give him a chance?
\nmaybe, an opportunity?
\nhelp me keep him going in the right direction,
\nuse your influence to motivate him<\/p>\n

coaches don’t just choose the obviously best kids that come already made
\ngreat coaches recognize potential and bring it out<\/p>\n

* * * *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 * * * *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 * * * *<\/p>\n

Post # 2 \u00a0\u00a0\u201cyou are my dad, \u00a0I know what it means because of you and it doesn\u2019t mean I love him any less
\n<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>my dad wouldn\u2019t mind
\n<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>he would be thankful.\u201d \u00a0 [Steve Tobacco died in 1968 in a car accident when Mary was c. 1\/2 year old.]<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mary has a record of understanding how to coach Rez children on their way toward maturity as basketball players, and maturity as emerging adults who can live their ways toward a strong and graceful adult presence in their worlds. \u00a0 She wrote the second poem for my 80th birthday.<\/p>\n

you told me a lot of stories and I like hearing them, including the hard ones
\nit bothers me that that guy hit you with a buckle
\nit bothers me that the school didn’t support you
\nbut, I like that you didn’t let it keep you away from the rez, away from mom
\nyou came back anyway and all of the good you’ve done!
\nand the kids are safe, and they’re doing so well\u00a0 (Legend needs something more, but he’s trying and we’ll keep working on it)<\/p>\n

what you do is important and the stories are important
\nall of those memories are to be shared
\nand, you’re still creating memories!
\nlike, coming to the rez and sitting by Black Elk, visiting J. Sheehan and being greeted by a meadowlark on a perfectly beautiful day in Manderson, SD<\/p>\n

and I don’t mind if you call me your daughter
\nyou are my dad, I know what it means because of you and it doesn’t mean I love him any less
\nmy dad wouldn’t mind
\nhe would be thankful
\nand mom would love it
\nshe would be the most happy<\/p>\n

have a good day!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Mary with two of her kids<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday, January 3 \u00a0\u2014 \u00a0two poems written by Mary Tobacco, my soul friend for years; one about coaching a promising young man; \u00a0one a birthday poem Mary wrote to me Post # 1 \u00a0\u201ca note to a high school boy\u2019s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3312"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3314,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3312\/revisions\/3314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}