For Charles, a 40th anniversary tribute
Time does not erase fondness,
though the edges of memory grow crooked,
cracked and faded like old stories, like
punch lines of bad jokes.
But we share a love of writing, of listening,
we drag beauty out of darkness,
and even though we have both lived
long enough to invite wounds into our lives,
we do not let them define us.
Rather we let them sharpen how we
view the world, how we brush against the rough edges,
and move on to send our stories into the nerve endings
of the world.
© Jane Yolen
Jane Yolen’s books and stories and poems have won the Caldecott Medal, two Nebula Awards, two Christopher Medals, three World Fantasy Awards, three Mythopoeic Fantasy Awards, two Golden Kite Awards, the Jewish Book Award and the Massachusetts Center for the Book award. She has also won the World Fantasy Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, the Science Fiction Writers of America’s Grand Master Award, the Sydney Taylor Body of Work Award, and the Science Fiction Poetry Associations Grand Master Award (the three together she calls the Trifecta). Plus she has won both the Association of Jewish Libraries Award and the Catholic Libraries Medal. Also the DuGrummond Medal and the Kerlan Award, and the Ann Izard story-telling award at least three times. Six colleges and universities have given her honorary doctorates for her body of work, so–she jokingly says–you could call her Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Dr. Yolen though she can’t set a leg. However, she does warn about winning too many awards as one of them set her good coat on fire. If you meet her, you can ask about that!
Celebrating CdL 