Tag: by Irene Leland

Poetry Reading: Cracks In The Sidewalks, by Irene Leland

Performed by Katelyn Varadi

Get to know the poet:

1) What is the theme of your poem?

A melancholy and symbolic laurel portraying the analogy of a relationship that will be crumbling with the cracks in the sidewalk and diminishing with the flattening of the hill.

2) What motivated you to write this poem?

Unlike personal motivation for much of my lyrics, this creatively came to me, and I was drawn by its double meaning, as a way to bring a meaningful impact.

3) How long have you been writing poetry?

I’ve been writing poetry since I was in grade school…for sixty years.

4) If you could have dinner with one person (dead or alive), who would that be?

That person would be Joni Mitchell, as her lyrics and music always inspired me.

5) What influenced you to submit to have your poetry performed by a professional actor?

I’m an actor and a voiceover artist, and I knew that having my work vocally performed in a professional presentation would give it a special asset.

6) Do you write other works? scripts? Short Stories? Etc..?

Yes! I’m an author of two biographies, two children’s books, several short stories and articles, a film treatment and script, many poems and award winning songs.

7) What is your passion in life?

My passion in life is to live to the fullest, exploring and fulfilling my dreams and tapping into and sharing my God given gifts of writing and composing! My natural living and creative expression has given me tremendous fulfillment in dealing with the celebrations and the hardships in life. 

Read Poetry: Cracks in the Sidewalk, by Irene Leland

When the cracks show in the sidewalk

The one that links your home and mine

I will know our love is breaking

And another path I’ll find

And when the hill begins to flatten

The one where we now often play

I will know our love is lessening

And I will go another way

Now I know smooth roads can be shattered

And mountains can be beaten down

Love can also lose its meaning

As though it never had been found

But if a mountain’s high and mighty

It can stand the greatest storm

And if a highway’s long and lasting

It will keep its stable form

And if a love is like that mountain

It will rest within the sky

And if a love is like that highway

It will forever lie!

But we never built a highway

And never climbed a mountain high

All we have is a sidewalk

And a hill on which to sigh

So when the cracks destroy that sidewalk

And the hill’s been trampled on

I will know our love has ended

And I will be gone…