ocean state poets --- giving voice
Ocean State Poets

IN MEMORIAM - - HELEN D'ORDINE
JUNE 26, 1943 -- AUGUST 7, 2022
Helen D'Ordine was a member of the Ocean State Poets since its founding in 2008. Before that she was a member of the Writer's Circle and Power to The Poets. She died last Sunday after a long battle with cancer and complications from a fracture that put her in a nursing home. She will be remembered for her gentle spirit and devotion to her family and late husband Tony.
It’s safe to say that those of us who knew her are better people for her friendship and counsel. She was interred at the RI Veterans’ Cemetery with Tony, after a mass of Christian Burial at the Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where she was a very active congregant. One of her last sentiments as a poet, expresses her personal sense of loss with the death of her husband:
PRONOUNS AND VERBS
When we became I
and us became me
then our became my.
When is became was
and love became loved
then live became died.
It’s safe to say that those of us who knew her are better people for her friendship and counsel. She was interred at the RI Veterans’ Cemetery with Tony, after a mass of Christian Burial at the Church of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where she was a very active congregant. One of her last sentiments as a poet, expresses her personal sense of loss with the death of her husband:
PRONOUNS AND VERBS
When we became I
and us became me
then our became my.
When is became was
and love became loved
then live became died.
Ocean State Poets--Rhode Island