Background on "Spring Awakening" by Lollie Butler

1. My poem came into being after I returned to my home state of Maine for a brief visit.

2. My favorite line from my poem is: "This path between two sleeps confounds the mind..."

3. No particular line gave me problems. They were all hard to come by.

4. I have been writing poetry since I first met Robert Frost in Portland, Maine when I was a third-grade school child. I was very impressed by him and his dedication to poetry. I met him again when he opened the Poetry Center at The University Of Arizona in 1960.

5. To read the poem aloud to an audience, I would introduce it thusly:
"In my home state of Maine, as the seasons turn, I always consider my history, the natural world and death. This is a reflection on all together with the detail that "Buddy" was my dog who died and whom we burried on our rural property."

6. I believe Frost--being as he, like me put roots deep into New England-- has influenced me the most. His New England, salty metaphors have always stuck with me. I've also enjoyed Elizabeth Bishop and others too numerous to mention.

7. My favorite Frost poem would be: THE ROAD NOT TAKEN.