Eloise Hamann | Updates

The Foster Princess

Eloise Hamann — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 19:37:05 -0400

I wrote this novelette when I was a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate.) When children are taken from their parents because the parents were unfit, usually, the parents want them back. Typically, alcoholism or addiction to drugs caused the neglect. Parents are given a limited amount of time to shape up, during which the children reside in a foster home. CASAs are assigned to a child or siblings to spend time with them and help them through this tough time, and make recommendations to the judge about permanent homes.

The Foster Princess is part fairy tale and part recognition of how most children want to be with their mothers. The young girl in this story lives in a shoe of a giant. (At one time, giants roamed the land.) The king riding in his coach encounters little Regina fighting another child who made fun of her raggedy clothes. He decides to adopt her. She is treated as well as a princess, but she misses her mother.

I hoped this would be a story adopted children could relate to as well as being entertaining to anyone including adults.

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Journeys

Eloise Hamann — Sun, 06 Apr 2025 15:13:43 -0400

Journeys is a collection of poetry and short stories by Tri-Valley Writers.

My contribution, The Very Bad Fairy ,is a short story in this collection. Jasmine takes care of her niece, Delilah, every Saturday while her sister is at work. Jasmine is amused by Delilah's imagination that she sees fairies. It becomes less amusing when Delilah blames the very bad fairy on broken items. When she finds her apron strings deliberately cut off, Jasmine has had enough. She announces that Delilah can't come to her house if the very bad fairy is along. Delilah cries and says she can't stop the very bad fairy. Heart broken, Jasmine sticks to her rule.

After a few Saturdays without Delilah, Jasmine visits her at her child care facility to see how she is. It turns out to be disastrous, and Jasmine is flabbergasted by the idea that Delilah may have been telling the truth.

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Eloise Hamann — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 11:36:20 -0400

This is a poem Where is Leonard Cohen? which was chosen for a collection to be published by Oakland Seniors

Where is Leonard Cohen?

He wrote about the dark.

He wrote about the light

He made our bellies feel

The commonness of our plight

He wrote about the cracks.

And he wrote about the good.

He made us think democracy was coming

And we thought we understood.

Now the worst of us is sprouting

Forget the idea of a brother

A demagogue emboldens

It’s OK to hate the other.

Our planet has a fever

Alarming in its size.

We won’t see the chaos coming

If we just close our eyes

Our souls need art and poetry

To regularly feed them

Where is Leonard Cohen

When we sorely need him?

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A Most Politic Day

Eloise Hamann — Tue, 08 Apr 2025 10:16:28 -0400

This is a true story about being invited to hear President Obama speak at an auditorium in San Francisco. I took BART and struggled following a map. The crowd outside was so large that I had a hard time getting through to the entrance. Most did not know the event was by invitation only. I had to stand as all the seats were taken. I stood near a place I thought would be his entrance. I had brought along a sign saying No KXL (a plan for a pipeline from Canada to our gulf coast) with a photo of Obama's arms around his daughter. A big sign ironically hung from the rafters saying NO SIGNs. After his speech, I stood three rows back from where Obama had entered. People in front of me were pulling out their phones. I debated: a picture or hold up the sign? I held up the sign, and as Obama passed, his long arm reached over two rows and shook my hand! I didn't wash it for two days.

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A Trilogy of Death is contained in Beyond the Window collected by Las Positas College

Eloise Hamann — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 15:50:54 -0400

My following poetry won 3rd place in Las Positas College Writing Contest

A Trilogy of Death

Death is a Part of Life

Death is a part of life, they say;

But I say, whose death, whose life?

My death is the end of my life.

Loss of a loved one they mean?

For I say loss when I mean death

Your death is the beginning of my loss.

Is it the knowing that there is an end?

When you know, you live differently?

Life’s sweetness is in the moment.

Death is Untimely

There is no suddenness like death.

It is not just that it happens in an instant.

It is that there is a rift in time.

A loaf of bread is swiftly sliced.

It smells the same; it weighs the same;

The sum is the whole of its parts.

Not so with death, I shake my head.

Not so with death, I want yesterday.

Not so with death, I feel the emptiness.

Before that tiny instant, life was filled with you

Now life does not smell the same nor weigh the same

Its parts are shattered and there is no whole.

______________________________________________________________________________

Grief Indulgence

I pick up the broom, make one sweep across the floor, and leave the dust;

I put down the broom, pick up a pen, and write one thank you-- for flowers;

I lay the note near its envelope, pick up a bundle of pictures, and sort out ten;

I leave the rest, go check e-mail, and read only a few;

I answer one, find a book I’ve saved, and read three pages;

I set down the book, bookmarking everything for another day.

My soul is fragile; I indulge myself with sleep aids, hot baths, long walks;

My soul is fragile; I allow myself no focus, no goals, no guilt over chores undone.

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Short Stories by Eloise

Eloise Hamann — Wed, 2 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Eloise has contributed to several collections of short stories as follows:

Glimpses: Her story Reboot is one of 16 fantasy stories about a terrible, horrible, no good day that a young woman is having, but ends up grateful she is alive after a scary encounter on San Francisco's BART.

The Choice Matters: Her story, A Cold Decision, in this collection of short stories, is a true story about our decision to move from the bitter winters in the Midwest, when we were nearly trapped in a snowdrift.

Her short stories and poetry have also appeared in annual collections published by Tri-Valley Writers called Voices of the Valley, anthologies by seniors Writing on the Edge and Tides, and a trio of poems titled A Trilogy of Death that won third place in an annual writing contest supported by Las Positas College.

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