Dear Erin, Lynne, (name removed) ( and in Memory of her, Mother Jones):

Erin, how lucky Arizona State University is to have you!  Lynne, I am glad you are doing poetry every 37 years, (another one sooner would be great)  and (name removed) thanks as always for contribuitng to this blog.  You all got me thinking about our recent holiday in the USA to celebrate Labor Day which is a bit ironic really so I decided to do a poem in honor of Mother Jones, the great labor leader of the last century in the USA.  She had her 100th birthday November 30, 1930 and is buried in the union mIners cemetary in Mount Olive, Illinois alongsde miners who died in the Virden Riot of 1898.  She called these miners her boys.  Whenever I need inspiration, I read part of her autobiography.  If you have a chance bloggers, check out her story. 

Mother Jones

Mother Jones in the mills and the mines

Marching in the Children's Parade

Right to the home of the President, Teddy R.

Looking for aid,

To stop working the children frayed.

Then to the miners dying to be heard.

Then to her legacy.

Mother Jones survived yellow fever and the great Chicago fire,

Joined the Knights of labor and co-founded the Wobblies

Mother Jones earned her title

Most dangerous woman in America

Does she live today? 

Mother Jones, Mother Jones,

Angel of the Miners

Angel of the Minors,

Angel of the workers,

Mother Jones.

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Thanks all, keep sending those poems, Valerie