Maryjane Wilson McNulty

Squirrel Hill Poetry Workshop members honor the memory of Maryjane Wilson McNulty. She published poetry in Delta Epsilon Sigma Journal, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts Magazine, Carlow College Journal, Against the Wall, Festival of Voices and Trumpet. Her work was awarded various first, second, and third prizes (1996-2002) in contests of the National Federation of State Poetry Societies, Pennsylvania Poetry Society and Ohio Poetry Society, and was published in their annual journals. She was an associate in the University of Pittsburgh Generations Together program.

Parable of the Oyster

from grain of sand
to pearl —
is a long lesson
in tenderly wrapping
pain
layer by layer
in lustre of
forgiveness

In Sultry Sky

here at my window —
cradled in barren branches,
a platinum disk
silver-plates the night,
makes the world look
like a city of the gods…

I visited the hospital to-day—

the moon tell lies…

For This Child
- for an Arab mother

Your sad eyes stare out
from the pages of my newspaper.
Those eyes carry a weight
beyond sadness—
the burden
of the child at your breast.
With what you know of life
you wish it still
for this child.

Like some jewel
in the dark mine of your heart,
hope is buried in those eyes,
beneath hard rock of patience.
You wait for a jewel-cutter
to carve and polish
facets of brilliance
you know must be there
somwhere-

for this child.