Ravensong Poetry And Writing Blog by Donovan Baldwin

BY DONOVAN BALDWIN

Years ago I heard the story of "Beethoven's kiss".

Apparently, a modern piano teacher gave a student a kiss (before we got all weird about such things) explaining that his instructor had given him the kiss, and the custom went back through several instructors to Beethoven giving one of HIS students a kiss.

I like links with the past... touching, keeping people alive, who are no longer with us... reminding us of the human continuum. In museums I brush past the gold and sculptures and spend time looking at chairs and baskets and toys, thinking about the carpenters, cooks, children... not the kings and queens.

I find myself saying things my father, my grandparents, my great aunt Lula, just Aunt Lula to us (sister of my paternal grandmother) said to me. Simple little tidbits drifting up from childhood and now a part of my being and communication.

"I swan...", "I see, said the blind man...", "What's goin' on, buddy boy..." and many other small space filling snippets.

Yet, how many were said to those people (the older ones born in the latter parts of the 19th century)? How often have I heard, do I repeat, the words of people who are only pictures and names.

Photos: My paternal grandmother, Margaret Geneva Waldrip Baldwin, my father and his brother, about 1912; and her sister, Aunt Lula with my dad at Stone Mountain about 1914 ish.

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WHAT MAKES SHAKLEE PRODUCTS DIFFERENT?

Labels: Beethoven, Beethoven's kiss, donovan baldwin, family

By: Donovan Baldwin

As I have mentioned from time to time in other places, I do genealogy.

While researching my family tree I came across an interesting footnote.

Now, this is not about me. The man is not even in my bloodline.

After the death of my father's mother, her husband, my grandfather, married a woman named Merrell. Turns out HER father, as a sheriff, stood down a lynch mob, and the incident was recorded in a story by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens), which was published after his death.

I claim no glory, by blood or relation, but, it feels special to be that close to history.

Not just to have a near-relative in the writings of Mark Twain, but, in the brave act of a man who upheld his duty.

Gave me chills. Way to go, great grandfather-in-law, however many times removed.

That may be the basis for a story or a poem someday.

You deserve it. I know Mark Twain did it better, but, I'm closer.

Labels: donovan baldwin, family, genealogy, Mark Twain