Rest In Peace Yak Pate
"Yak Pate" (my aunt) drifted peacefully to her next big adventure late Monday night. She will be missed and loved and remembered as the poet she was. She had some poems and a couple of posts written in her notebook she kept at her side until the very end....I will try to post them for everyone later. One of her last wishes was to have a poetry reading with her friends and she didn't get that chance. I know she would love for all of you to remember her with poetry and or comment here.
Thanks,
From one of her Loving Nieces.
She was a star, a dreamer and a poet - a very special woman!
Please visit the following website for her obit:
http://www.courier-journal.com/ (click obits and last name Kaye to view)
posted by Yakpate at 6:21 AM
9 Comments:
The world has lost a beautiful talent..Our family has lost a huge source of love....You will be greatly missed Aunt Pat! I love you.....
7:33 AM
The world has lost a beautiful talent..Our family has lost a huge source of love....You will be greatly missed Aunt Pat! I love you.....
7:33 AM
Thank you so much Nikki and Stacy for being with Pat at the end. She loved you so much. One late night a couple of weeks ago Pat left a poem she had just written on my answering machine. She called it "I am the Poem". I am so hoping that you have a copy of that poem to share. It was so beautiful and she said it was the last poem she wrote. She was a shining light in the world and loved by so many people. Love was at the center of her world. Pat, we miss you already and love you and will never forget you.
8:20 AM
Oh, to have been a treasured Princess in Queen Patricia's court! We were bejeweled and empowered and adored, but never as much as she was, because she was truly a queen. =)
I am so lucky to have copies of her writing that spans decades, and I'd like to share a few poems.
She loved this children's poem she wrote, and quoted it frequently:
the best poem
is the one you see
when you look
into a mirror
where your tongue
is sticking
out.
pink.
And, she loved this one, too:
this poem
forgot
what it was going
to say
but
BUTTERLY!
anyway
I'm pretty sure this was written to a lover, and some of the lines don't apply; but, many of them do describe the way we all feel today:
without you
living is an exercise
a duty to be performed
without you
there is no juice in my day
no expectation
lots of plans,
lots of plans,
lots of fantasies about living
but no life
I wonder
if I had been more alive
If I'd had some life of my own
to back up the life
and hope you filled me with
spoiled me with
let me do what I wanted with
I wonder if I could have loved you
If I'd had life of my own
would I have felt smarter?
Would I have felt what I wanted to feel
when I lay in your arms
and soaked up your love?
Now you're gone
and I've got lots of plans
about how beautiful and alive
I'm going to be, soon.
Very soon. Meanwhile
without you, there just isn't any
juice
to life
2/16/79
PK
9:50 AM
Here's another great one:
Dream Mercado
Last night at the Dream Mercado
We went shopping for things to sleep
(it's a marvelous market
to dream to, because
all that one likes
one may keep)
With baskets woven from macrame holes
We passed
through orange-peel aisles
So slippery
with sugar
We skated
on marbles
Spinning tickles between our toes
we picked some fresh poems ...
a can of stars ...
and a brown paper bagful
of spells ...
I asked, what colors do stars smell?
He said yellow. You mean like sulphur,
I said, he answered no,
i mean like fire
then, let's open
our can of stars with a spell,
i said, so we did
with a double-sung moonsing
i smell blue! i cried,
Oh shit! he replied, the stars
are rotten again!
Then we laughed
because a coin i dropped
through a vending machine slot
Produced a
FART
So we ran into the meat department,
Still grinning,
until we toppled an erection
of chicken bones
to such a joyful clutter on the noisy floor
that the butcher
ran out to thank us
He presented us each with a peacock feather,
saying, put them
in a beautiful place ...
So simultaneously we stuck them up our asses
and laughed again
while falling asleep
10:02 AM
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12:29 AM
I'm sorry to hear this news. But, like many, I've experienced cancer before in my family.
The above commenters obviously knew "Yak" or "Pak" infinitely better than me. She was indeed a gifted writer/poet as shown here on her blog. I would have loved her to have been a Daily blogger! And, I know she wanted to attend one of our local blogger gatherings one day.
I appreciated the usually humorous comments we wood exchange here, & on my blog.
Life is a series of hello's and good-bye's. I'm happy to have met Yak & say "hello" to her here where she shared a special piece of her big Kentucky heart.
Prayers & Peace to her surviving loved ones...
12:33 AM
From Valle Gran Rey>Gomera Canary Island.It have been a long time since Patricia live here... but we will never forget you
11:15 PM
Yak Pate...missing you and thinking of you everyday. I am still in shock...I love you!
1:09 PM
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