Ludie's Life
Cynthia Rylant
- 116 pages
- English
- ePUB (adapté aux mobiles)
- Disponible sur iOS et Android
Ludie's Life
Cynthia Rylant
Ă propos de ce livre
In “luminous moments told in lovely language, ” the poems of the Newbery Medal–winning author of Boris bring a rural woman to vivid life ( School Library Journal ).
Cynthia Rylant returns to her home state of West Virginia with this powerful and evocative collection of poems. In a heartbreaking narrative that flows like a novel, we follow Ludie from childhood to falling in love and getting married, through the birth of her own children, and on into old age. This is the story of one woman’s experiences in a hardscrabble coal-mining town, a story that brims with universal themes about life, love, and family—and all of the joy, laughter, heartache, and loss that accompany them.
Would she tell you that six children
were too many,
that some disappointed,
others surprised,
but that, all in all,
six
were too many
and one
would have been just fine?
Would she tell you that she married
that boy at fifteen
not only because he was tall and kind
but also because
she needed a way out?
“A brilliant contribution to the growing collection of Appalachian literature that tells the story as honestly and purely as life in the mountains has always been and always will be.” — Teenreads
“A collection of Zen-like moments of self-discovery and serenity . . . A powerful read for young and old alike.” — Kirkus Reviews
Foire aux questions
Informations
Would she tell you that six children
were too many,
that some disappointed,
others surprised,
but that, all in all,
six
were too many
and one
would have been just fine?
Would she tell you that she married
that boy at fifteen
not only because he was tall and kind
but also because
she needed a way out?
Her mother had died years before,
her father married again,
a woman with children of her own,
a woman who pushed Ludie
away from the house,
away from the supper table.
Would she tell you that she stole food
when she was eight,
stole food from the supper table
and ran to the creek to eat it,
because had she waited for that woman
to feed her,
there would have been
only scraps?
Ludie was a beautiful girl,
saucy, some called her,
and she raised herself,
herself and her sister, Trula,
after their mother died.
They were living in Alabama,
it was the 1910s,
and there was a train to Birmingham,
a train that could take them out of that
coal camp
to Birmingham
if only theyâd had the money
and the courage,
but the train to Birmingham
always left without them.
They sat on the grassy hill
with everyone else
who had come to watch the train
pull in and out,
not a nickel in
their pockets,
owned by the mine
that sent their fathers and sons
to dark graves.
Not a nickel in
their pockets.
Ludieâs life then was happy and sad,
she would say.
There was no thought
to what work
she might do in her life.
Teacher.
Nurse.
Not a chance.
Not when youâre stealing food
off your own supper table.
Did Ludieâs father
love her?
Obviously not as much
as the second woman
he married.
This was not lost
on Ludie.
So when that boyâ
they called him âRupe,â
and he was tall and kindâ
walked her home from the train
when she was fifteen,
their future was sealed
and there would be six babies,
maybe five too many,
and sex
would never be what it was
that first night,
it would be instead
one of those gifts
you know you canât afford
but you spend the money anyway,
sex would be instead
one of those things
you could have done without, maybe,
if youâd known the cost.
She spent the money anyway
and there were six babies,
five too many,
and sheâd be the rest of her life
taking care of the...