Thanks to an enthusiastic gentleman in Munich, Germany, we recently found another post-polio anthology author and are happy to share her works with you.

Back in 2014 we published an “all points bulletin” in search of several authors who had sent us original compositions to hopefully publish in a book. Sadly, for many reasons, their writings were buried for 15 years. But as a result of our renewed online search, several of the authors responded and gave permission for their writings to come alive on this blog.

The following poems are by Anthonette (Toni) Keffeler, who was a published writer and accomplished visual artist. Toni had bulbar polio at age ten. While no respirator was necessary, there was muscle loss in the face, neck and throat with general weakness of skeletal muscles. Pool treatments were followed by a wheelchair, then crutches, then a fair recovery. Mrs. Keffeler went on to be a figure skater during her teen years, to work her way through college and art school, and to teach art for nearly ten years. Then, plagued by fatigue and arm muscle problems, Mrs. Keffeler had to stop working. There was no diagnosis. Toni Keffeler was born in 1930 and died in 1994 in Half Moon Bay, California. In the late 1980s Toni sent us three poems.

Perhaps Toni’s seaside verses have a message for us 30 years later?

WAVES

I have watched the waves

For all the seasons,

And now I know

How distant they begin,

What they spew upon the shore,

And the dazzling turmoil in between.

I know each pattern of the waves

Except the one now coming in.

My strength too belongs to the sea.

I can stand along my sand

And reach.

And when the wave erupts we collide

Into song.

I have been loyal to my wave watching,

And when our tide is strong

I’ll know,

And I’ll go

Watch the waves.

BUTTERFLY

A butterfly,

If I had not passed by,

Would have opened its wings

Alone in the sky.

(Having just begun,

We could move as one.)

LOWER BIRD

I watched while the shadows swept along the shore

Until well past,

And looked to see a lower bird,

Smaller than the rest.

I saw it soar!

I would say…IF I were he;

“I cannot fly as far,

Or as long,

Or as high,

Or as free,

But my shadow was mistaken, here, for yours.”

———————————————————————————————————————–

It seems that in struggling, even suffering, with increased confinement —

perhaps brought on by greater weakness,

or pandemic restrictions,

or economic constrictions, or cabin fever, or chronic cynicism…

or…or…or… (you say)

–one might long for greater freedom of movement and spiritual momentum,

if only for an enthusiastic moment;

to be released…

to soar in the wind like a bird or butterfly or even a snowflake.

Toni left us, but her human relatability did not. What do you think?

Spring always comes,

Sunny

P.S. Still searching for the following authors:

Floy Schoenfelder

Lee Whipple

William Wild

Agnes Fennewald

Charlotte Snitzer

Ann Bradley

Sofia Baltodano

Bruce Berman

Roberta Dillion Williams

Becky Lee Vance

Jean Hamm

Ann Goodhall

Ginger Sage

Shirley Hile Powell

Elizabeth Reeves

Doris Vanden Boogard

Donna L. Mattinson

Marie Galda

Alan M. Oberdick

Emma Blosser Hartzler

R. N. Hackney

Robert C. Huse

 Where can you be?

Do you know there are millions of polio survivors living in our world today? Many are suffering with new medical problems from polio. To help with education and important services click here:

https://post-polio.org/support-us/donate/