How I Became a Cosmic Possum

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Bio

Jane attended Virginia Tech and graduated from Emory and Henry College in Emory, Virginia. She holds a Master's degree from East Tennessee State University. Jane retired in 2007. She was most recently a teacher intellectually gifted students in Sullivan County, Tennessee. Over the years, she also taught Spanish, French, and English, as well as being a school counselor.

The History of the Cosmic Possum

In 1986, Now and Then published Jane's poem, "First Generation Bachelor of Arts." The poem spoke of the experience that many of our generation had when they became the first high school and college graduates in their families. Most of us were the first generation that grew up "out of the holler" or "off the ridge." We lived in suburbs and working class neighborhoods. Our grandparents still lived in out of the way family farms or mine camps. We all spent a lot of time there when we were growing up. We had a foot in both worlds. As the late James Still said "We talked smart, but we had hillbilly all over us."

The poem "How We Became Cosmic Possums" grew out of these reflections on our lives. We were educated, sophisticated people who went to college in the late sixites and early seventies who still appreciate and respect our Appalachian roots. We heard "The Brier's Sermon" and were "born again." (Jim Wayne Miller, The Mountains Have Come Closer)

Wind magazine published this poem in 1998.

How We Became Cosmic Possums

(Suburban Appalachian Baby Boomers)

Caught between Country club and 4-H,
Neither shrimp nor crawdad,
Neither hip nor hillbilly,
Neither feedsack nor cashmere.

Neither shrimp nor crawdad,
Daddy punched the time clock,
Neither feedsack nor cashmere,
Worked weekend tobacco on Grandpa's farm.

Daddy punched the time clock,
First generation out of the holler,
Worked weekend tobacco on Grandpa's farm,
Saved for our college diplomas.

First generation out of the holler,
Veterans who never spoke the horror,
Saved for our college diplomas,
Television lullabies shaped weary dreams.

Veterans who never spoke the horror,
Stanley thermos and lunchpail full,
Television lullabies shaped weary dreams,
Believed our country always right.

Stanley thermos and lunchpail full,
Feared beatniks, hippies, and Communists,
Secretly applauded our highest draft numbers,
Scorned unions in the plants,
Wars they never spoke of, fierce dreams.

Secretly applauded our highest draft numbers,
Searched the skies for nuclear rain,
Wars they never spoke of, fierce dreams,
Built fallout shelters for our future.
Became the hippies our fathers feared.

We learned to "duck and cover,"
Neither shrimp nor crawdad,
Became the hippies our fathers feared,
Caught between country Club and 4-H.

Contact Jane.

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How I Became a Cosmic Possum

Bio

The History of the Cosmic Possum

How We Became Cosmic Possums

Contact Jane.

Wind Magazine