Celebrating Poet of the Month - Jayne Jaudon Ferrer

When I met Jayne Jaudon Ferrer, I found a practicing poet, a multi-faceted poet. She is one of the few writers I know who make a living writing. She is a practicing poet, yet she saves time to pass poetry on to the next generation. This is one reason she was chosen as POET OF THE MONTH. Having taught in the public school system for many years, I
remember golden moments when a visiting poet would come and the students would sit up and open their ears.





Jayne Jaudon Ferrer has a passion for sharing poetry with students and has visited middle schools and high schools all over America, reading to them, sharing her poems, listening to their poems.

This poem, "And So You Go" is one poem she has often shared with students.  It's the poem that a number of mothers have written to her about, telling the author that they read this poem to their sons at their graduation celebration.

And So You Go  by Jayne Jaudon Ferrer

And so you go

out there, to life,

eager to leave the nest,

impatient to spread your wings.

In your face

there is such promise.

In your laugh, such nonchalance.

So much has changed,

yet there are moments—

       subliminal blips—

when I see still the toddler who,

       splayed in my lap or

            head snug against mine,

drank in one story after another,

whispered secrets in the dark,

spilled out kisses and laughs like a beneficent king.

There are moments

       when a pleased expression,

random outburst,

furrowed brow,

brings back a cherished glimpse

of that little boy lost.

In those moments,

it is hardest to say

farewell.

But I must,

and  I can,

and I do—

then watch with pride and pain

through tears and years

of love.

And so you go.

from A Mother of Sons (Loyola Press 2004)

"It's so much fun to  help young people discover that poetry is a marvelous way to communicate -- even with their parents," said Jayne Jaudon Ferrer recently.