Jolene, Joline, Joleen, Jolean!

The Broadway Theatre.  Broadway Avenue.  Saskatoon SK.  Trendy little neighborhood with hip little nightspots.  Lee Aaron, the Metal Queen.  Lee Aaron, now sultry jazz maven.  One night of jazz,  one chance encounter that inspired a poem.  Here we are, 14 years later.. a meshing of stories....Dolly and her "Jolene".   I revised my poem this weekend by adding a chorus. Here, then, is the history behind this poem, originally entitled: Mary Margaret Stella.

A name crossed my path the other day.  A name that brought back memories.  A name that belonged to a person, a woman, that, 14 years ago, inspired a portrait, and a poem.  A name, that i could only guess at. The guessing was incorrect, and as such, the name of the poem should perhaps be changed.  Or not.  I called it " Mary, Margaret, or Stella"....

Last night I watched a documentary about Dolly Parton and her song "Jolene".  It was actually written about a little girl, not a competitor for love.  My poem also was written to sound like 'the other woman' but it was written about a mother.  A strange thing, that her name is part of  the name "Jolene" and is also my second name.  It was only two days ago that I was spinning straw into gold, & found out her real name,  and then happened to view this documentary.  Whenever I hear the song Jolene,  to this day, it brings back a lot of memories, but that is a whole other story.

Years ago, when I wrote the poem, I wrote it after attending a concert (The metal queen going all jazzy, with Ralph Alfonso) at the Broadway Theatre, at which my former love interest at the time, was MC'ing.   It was either during the intermission, or at the end, I remember standing up, turning to leave my seat and enter the aisle, when an older woman walked right past me, and looked directly at me.  Her gaze seemed to bore holes into my eyes, as some inexplicable communication happened on a soul level...I knew - or at least I thought I knew---she had to be his mother.  And yes, yes indeed, I was right, she was. Is.  and now I know her name......

and the other odd ball thing?  When I wrote "your sun is rising" - I meant that he was doing so well, to be invited to act as MC at this event.  But,  a few years later.....he actually is raising a son....