I am forever grateful that I was able to connect with Sheryl through an awkward North by Northwest interview several years ago, and recently I had the privilege of contributing to her final show. Here is the poem I wrote for her, "Dear Sheryl."
Dear Sheryl
I’ve been thinking about
how a poem is never just a poem.
sometimes a poem is a bandaid.
sometimes a poem is a gift.
sometimes a poem feeds a hunger,
rights a wrong—sometimes a poem
wins a contest.
sometimes your poem wins a contest
and you're asked to talk about it on the radio,
on a show you’ve never heard of
because you’ve never gotten up before 11 am on a weekend.
sometimes you are sitting in a recording booth
across from a stranger, more nervous than you’ve ever been,
and then she laughs at a joke you've made.
it’s not a good joke,
and it’s not just a laugh—
it’s an invitation. a welcome mat.
it is arms open to whatever you want to say,
however you want to say it,
however long it takes to find the words.
so a poem is never just a poem.
sometimes a poem is a lucky dice roll
and a laugh is a door opening
and a stranger becomes someone
you'll spend the rest of your life looking up to.
Sheryl, for twenty years
you have taken a radio show
and made it into more than that.
sometimes the show is a window.
sometimes it’s a mirror.
sometimes it’s a favourite song
or a hand-crafted mug or a trek through the wildest corners of the internet.
sometimes it’s a lifeline.
sometimes it’s a good cry.
the show is a way back home.
the show is a house with all the lights on.
a recipe handed down through generations.
the show is a place people come to learn and heal,
to laugh and feel a little less alone—
Sheryl, you listened.
you kept the lights on.
and you opened your arms to a world
that learned to open them right back,
Sheryl, this poem is not just a poem.
this poem is a letter,
and a gift,
this poem is a girl you taught to open her arms wider than she ever thought possible,
this poem is thousands of people waving goodbye,
saying thank you for everything,
we’ll miss you,
take care.
