(In gratitude to Dr. A Joseph Armstrong and Mary Maxwell Armstrong)
By Barrett-Browning, Baylor U.
Now houses works in Waco T.
Both raised in England, poetry
Would elevate these names of two.
For first they’d found in wedded glee,
To health and child till death does part.
Love lit, flight, whisked to Italy,
New name, new fame, real risks to start.
One son, heir, “Pen” to pen and chart,
Keeps right, but writes no will. Who knew?
Both raised in England, poetry
Would elevate these names of two.
And blessed be the buying spree,
The move, the building, now the art
In faith serves Christianity.
Where guided tours, flipped housing starts,
By Chip and Jo; their gifts their smarts,
Brings thousands to this city new.
By Barrett-Browning, Baylor U.
Now houses works in Waco T.
- Gary Edward Geraci
A recent trip to Waco just 45 minutes north of our home town in Temple, Texas, rather serendipitously took my wife and I right by the Armstrong Browning Library. The library, located on the campus of Baylor University is home to a world class collection of the poetic works and personal effects of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Robert Browning. And many other Christian literary works are housed there as well, including one of my favorites: the poet Gerard Manly Hopkins. Until this trip, I was completely unaware of this great treasure; a dream come true - for any follower of metaphysical works; works inspired by a belief in a higher order; the supernatural; and Biblical revelation, both old and new. Thanks to my wife Jessica’s ardent love and faithful following of the HGTV show “Fixer Upper” - a show based on the working lives of hosts and Waco residents Chip and Joanna Gaines, we had ventured into Waco several times before to shop and eat at the newest local ventures of the Gaines’ family: The Silos and Magnolia Table. But it was this last visit, engaging the services of “Waco Tours,” where, during a 2.5 hour fun filled guided tour of Waco, the library and its famous contents were introduced to us. I couldn’t wait until we could make a separate visit there and several days later we did just that.
ReplyDelete“These Names of Two” is written in the Italian verse form known as barzelletta; a poem that tells a “joke, funny story” or “carnival song” according to Edward Hirsch in “A Poet’s Glossary” and plays on several name pairs that together have brought much positive good to His Kingdom, right here in Waco, Texas. Thousands from all over the U.S.A. come now, every day, to Waco to get a glimpse of the work of the Gaines’ family. And if they take the now famous guided tour, they will also be introduced to the other Waco treasures including the Armstrong Browning Library. My poem flows to the abba cdcdda ba(R) cdcdda ab(R) rhyming convention and is written to a traditional iambic tetrameter.
Thanks Laura for your read and inquiry. I’ve updated the “Comment from author about poem” to help answer (long answer) your question: “why the barzelletta?” The short answer: the Browning’s eloped to Italy and created a large volume of art there, I’m of Italian decent on my father’s side and was thrilled to learn of this new form (new to me), and there’s a certain humor in the way contemporary artists and forms of creating (flipping houses on HGTV) are bringing light to these two, traditional, 19th century Victorian poets.
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