Cousin Shyrle Hacker once told me that she believed she had a spider inside her that caused her to want to constantly weave a web of words. Well it seems her offspring have that same spider.Here are some of Shyrl's poems as well as those of her daughter, Dianne, who is also an author, and granddaughter, Dana, who is a movie critic for Slate On-Line Magazine.
Dakota Dawn
By Shyrle
Christmas baby, crying in the night
This night of the imprisoned moon;
Its silver streamers clutched by snow.
What does the kind wind say?
What does the cruel wind know?
Your mother’s voice comes muted through the wall
Blending notes of wisdom and of awe.
I sense her turning in the dark
A dark now burdened with the overflow
Release the cords—the moon must go.
Moments drift like soundless flakes
Transforming the prairie.
Christmas baby, crying in the night.
Prairie dawn.
she brings you to me;
I hold you tight.
Then victor and victim she departs
Trailing the streamers that bind three hearts.
For my Daughter
By Shyrle
This vineyard is my joy now
The melodic breve in sheltered shadow
As yesterday yearning
Yields to trellised tomorrow.
Dreams mellow best
Where generations
Fill the shelves
Like old wine barrels.
Across the far sea wedge
Of dormant desire
Nourished
From the many peopled past
This cutting does retain
The grafted gift
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A minimalist poem written to her friend's daughter,Eva, by Dana Stevens, Granddaughter of Shyrl Hacker.
no mouth
says this
opened
o of
these lips
is there
nothing
to be said
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More poetry by Dianne Stevens, Dana's mom.
WHEN YOUR MOTHER IS A WRITER*(Dedicated to her Mom, Shyrl Hacker)
For Mom, on her 90th birthday, March 15, 2000
Every night she read to us aloud
in her author-voice.
Our childhood was a season of stories.
We slept in suspense,
dreamed in chapters .
While other children yawned and bid
the moon good night.
we boarded Mom's adventure train,
chugging off to Rangoon,
stopping off in Katmandu.
Destination Xanadu.
Fall was mystery season.
Mr. Plum with the candlestick.
How would he get out of this one?
And deadly Miss Scarlet.
What would she do next in the library?
Mom read winter to us, under the covers.
Ice cracked Tuscarora, wind-whipped Elko.
We learned the earth was naked.
Our feet grew cold in her bed of stories.
She pulled us closer and read on.
Spring was sorcery season.
Stars slid into the river.
The moon eloped with the sun.
All true. Mom read it from a book.
We listened and we knew.
Summer. Who wants stories,
when pools turn aquamarine,
when bodies bronze before your very eyes?
So, Mom skimmed, her voice like a dash through the sprinkler.
Dickinson, Stevenson. 'Oh how I love
to go up in the swing, up in the swing so high...'
Every night she read to us aloud
in her author-voice.
Our childhood was a season of stories.
We slept in suspense,
dreamed in chapters .
Now we go up in our swings, up in our swings so high.
we can see clear to Rangoon and the stars.
The rest is story.
-Diane
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Advice
For my daughter
On the birth of Alice Pearl
February 14th 2005
It's not advice I want to give thee,
great platters of rot,
still moist and fresh and free.
Some of it's edible, you can see,
some of it's not,
It's not advice I want to give thee.
How she'll sprawl up your rib cage, her tree,
to your heart where blood is hot.
It's not advice I want to give thee.
How she'll scatter stars on the sea,
or some other life-long plot,
still fresh and moist and free.
It's her silver self she wants to be.
To ask is not a lot,
still fresh and moist and free.
It's not gold words you want from me.
Experience just won't blot,
still fresh and moist and free.
It's not advice I want to give thee.
-Diane
Not to be outdone by his female counterparts, Shyrl's son ,Gary, composes beautiful prose as a free lance writer.
That great Highland philosopher, Lachlan McLachlan, propounded a number of irrefutable laws of life, the universe and everything. His greatest observations were made at the bar of the Auchentiddlum Arms, usually after consuming copious quantities of Buckfast Tonic Wine. Below is a selection of some of his greatest insights, recorded by his great admirer Jimmy Boswell.
Lachlan's Laws
* "Anything is possible if you don't know what you are talking about."
* "A closed mouth gathers no feet."
* "The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act."
* "The most common cause of hearing loss amongst men is a wife saying she wants to talk to him."
* Lachlan's Theorem of the Bath - "When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone invariably rings."
* "The things that come to those who wait will be the things left by those who got there first."
* "He who laughs last, thinks slowest."
* "Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't."
* "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat all day drinking beer."
* "Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people look bright until you hear them speak."
* "The man who thinks he knows it all, is a pain in the neck to those of us who really do."
* "The reason we Scots fight so often among ourselves is that we're always assured of having a worthy opponent."
* "When you go into court, you are putting yourself in the hands of 15 people who weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty." (Note that there are 15 jurors in Scotland, not 12).
* "When women see the first strand of grey hair they think they are going to dye..."
* "The chances of an open-faced jelly sandwich landing face down on a floor covering are directly correlated to the newness, color and cost of the carpet/rug."
* "All marriages are happy - it's the living together afterwards that causes all the problems."
* "Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong."
* "At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle arrive last and during a critical time in the show."
* "By the time a man is wise enough to watch his step, he's too old to go anywhere."
* "Don't worry about avoiding temptation. As you grow older, it will avoid you."
* "Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground."
* "Experience is a wonderful thing. It enables you to recognise a mistake when you make it again."
* "The average woman would rather have beauty than brains, because the average man can see better than he can think."
* "In slow moving traffic, if you move to another lane because it is moving faster, it always slows down and the lane you were in speeds up."
* "Wisdom comes with age - but sometimes age comes alone."
* "Marriage is a relationship in which one person is always right - and the other person is a husband..."
* "Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional."
* "Laughing is good exercise. It's like jogging on the inside."
* "Don't worry about what people think - they don't do it very often."
* "Someone who thinks logically makes a nice contrast to the real world."
* "You know when you're getting old when you wake up with that morning-after feeling, and you didn't do anything the night before."
* "The only way to keep healthy is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not." (Although Mark Twain may have said it first).
* "The nicest thing about the future is that it always starts tomorrow."
* "A good time to keep your mouth shut is when you're in deep water."
* "Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea."
* "Before you criticise someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticise them, you're a mile away - and you have their shoes..."
* "After a certain age, if you don't wake up aching in every joint, you are probably dead."
* "There is no vaccine against stupidity!"
* "A man with no sense of humour probably doesn't have any sense at all."
* "Think about this ... No one ever says "It's only a game" when his team is winning."
* "Never test the depth of the water with both feet."
* "Women who think they are the equal of men lack ambition."
* "Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted."
* "If at first you don't succeed - skydiving is not for you."
One of my Grandfather's
sisters , Kate, married the Honorable Senator William Macdonald. He was called Uncle Mick and also Billy. He was the nephew of Hector Macdonald, sister Mary's husband. It is a rather strange twist that the two McDonald girls married Mac Donalds. Senator Billy was born in River Denis, Nova Scotia in 1837. His father, Allan, who with his father, Donald, of South Uist (Hebredes), was from Invernesshire, Scotland, both descendants of Clan Ronald. The family settled in Cape Breton in 1826. Senator Macdonald belonged to the Clan Ranald branch of Clan Donald, a sect whose possessions embraced the extensive territories of Moidart, Arisaig, Glenfinnan and Glenalladale. "The Senator", as he was known in the family, taught school for four years beginning at the age of 16. Then he became quite successful in the mercantile business in Glace Bay. The center of town in Glace Bay is still called Senators’ Corner, named after William.
Also there is a Senators’ Marsh in Glace Bay. Bill married Kate on February 7, 1865, at St. Mary's Parish in East Bay. Her brother Michael, just out from California, was a witness. Later Bill was appointed as Little Glace Bay's postmaster (1868-1872).
From postmaster, he was elected to the Canadian House (1872-1884) and then to the Senate (1884-1916) by the Marquis of Lansdowne. In 1883, he urged and secured the first subsidy for extension of the Railroad across Cape Breton. He held the chairmanship of the Standing Committee on Immigration and Colonization. William was well thought of by members of the Conservative Party. Finally, he was offered the governorship of the Northwest Territories by Premier Sir John A. MacDonald
, but he declined. William was president of the Alumni Association of St.Francis Xavier College and a member of the Royal Cape Breton Yacht Club. The late Sir John McDonald described William thusly: "Steadfast and true like most of the clan."
It is said that John McDonald is actually distantly related to our family.
While Bill held office the family lived in an aristocratic-type home on an acre of land in Sydney. The home called Brooklands can be seen in an 1849 painting of Sydney.
It stood high on a bluff overlooking the city. In 1881, they were living in Lingan. Their Sydney estate had a circular drive composed of white gravel brought by boat from Marble Mountain, one hundred miles away. Today the home still exists in Sydney as Curry’s Funeral Parlor.
Inside were deep rugs, antiques including a grandfather clock, and overstuffed furniture. In addition, the Senator smoked expensive cigars, employed maids and always rode in a chauffer-driven car. The four girls toured Europe, wintered on the Rivera or in Florida between European trips, and stayed at the Ritz, Montreal's best hotel.
At one time the family visited the Vatican.
They may even have visited Loughlin and Murdock by chauffeured car on one occasion. One of Anne Gillis' grandchildren recited her reverence for "Aunt Kate." "I remember her coming down the stairs
like a queen, her full skirts rustling and she'd hug and kiss everyone of us. She loved children as did grandma."
William had three sons (Wm Jr, the bibliophile was featured in the last issue of the Mac Donald Newsletter)and four daughters:
