MLK and me After attending the Heritage Society Dinner in April, I walked through the Administration Building and left a piece of memorabilia with Doris Hash. What a sweet woman and an obvious asset to Bellarmine that lady is. Every passing student appeared to acknowledge her, and their mutual respect was obvious. While standing at Doris’ work station I noted the letter posted by Msgr. Horrigan dated February of 1964. I distinctly remember it being tacked on the bulletin board in the upstairs lobby inviting Bellarmine’s students to attend an upcoming civil rights “March on Frankfort.” It was interesting to note that the keynote speaker for that March 5th event was not mentioned, namely Dr. Martin Luther King. Since I still have a souvenir photograph taken that morning in Frankfort, I wanted to share it with the school. Your Heritage Society Dinner was a marvelous event – not to mention the fun tour of the Louisville Slugger Museum, dinner at The Uptown Cafe on B-town Road, a cold Falls City at The Bard’s Town restaurant, and a relaxing drive back home during Thursday’s monsoon. I believe I spotted Noah somewhere on I-64 around Mt. Vernon, Illinois. summer 2013 7 THE READERS WRITE Marlott Rhoades ’66 Ballwin, Mo. Bellarmine Magazine, Bellarmine University 2001 Newburg Road Louisville, Ky 40205 jwelp@bellarmine.edu or 502.272.7492 Driving Arizona By John James Saguaro in headlights, we touch like foreign bodies. Sedona recedes against the sky’s aperture. Roll the covers off, the coldness in Williams— (Aren’t you afraid? I’m afraid, too.) Wanting to know you, thinking I do, Thinking of the miles unfolding before us, The highway beating through rows of golden cacti. I want to remember things purely, to see them As they are without the urge to order. To take the pictures down, and say what hurts. Say we’re able to enjoy this more than we ever did. Somewhere behind us, the mountains slope off. Sunrise breaks over fields of whitened heather. Let’s only sit and listen. Only stare at the open earth Without saying why. If approximations are the best We can do—fine then, let’s approximate. Home is a question and we’re drifting from it. John James’ poems, essays and reviews have appeared in Boston Review, The Kenyon Review, Pleiades and Washington Square, among other journals, and online in DIAGRAM and Phantom Limb. He holds an M.F.A. in poetry from Columbia University, where he received an Academy of American Poets Prize. He teaches in Bellarmine’s English Department. Write to us @
Bellarmine Magazine_Summer2013_single
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