Poetry and Genealogy

Randy at Geneamusings for his weekly Saturday Night Genealogy Fun has a 'call for submissions' of poetry

1) Create a poem - rhyming, free verse, doggerel, limerick, etc. - about genealogy research, whether general or specific.

2) Post it on your blog, on Facebook, in Comments to this post so all of the world can appreciate your creativity.

April is National Poetry Month, so this is definitely an appropriate challenge. Over on my personal blog I've challenged myself to compose 30 poems in 30 days. So far I am doing well in the challenge.

Inspired by Randy, here's some free verse on Genealogy Research

Four Questions

Will I find the answer I seek
on a roll of microfilm
in the back of a cabinet
at the local library
or perhaps written
on the back of a photograph
buried in a box
in the attic?

Can I trust research
conducted by a stranger
posted on the internet
without any sources cited
any more or less
than the uncited research
of a 19th century distant kin
published in a book?

Why do some cousins
respond excitedly to my letters
while others are silent?
Is it me, my cousins, or the letters?

How many roads must a man pursue
before a brick wall comes down?
I’d ask Bob Dylan,
but I know the answer he’ll give me,
and I want something more.

***

And here's a video I've posted before (back in July of 2007) by one of my favorite modern poets, Billy Collins.