When I first heard Trudy Kleckner read her poem “In The Bakery” a ping traveled from my head to my heart. It invited me to think and feel. She elevates into art an everyday encounter she had while trying to purchase scones at Ambrosia Patisserie in Barrington, Illinois. Here’s the poem.

In The Bakery

the air smelled of butter and sugar and fresh baked bread

a stranger stood ahead of me in line

brown hair sprinkled with grey and smiling eyes

she ordered six scones

      i asked the baker for three

was told they were out

the woman turned and offered to share

oh no i replied

i will make another choice

i did not know her

name or age

but i knew she was kind

i did not know where she was born

or where she lived

but i knew she was kind

i did not know her religion

or her political preferences

but i knew she was kind

in this world

filled with meanness    violence    division

she gave me what i yearn for

more than scones

she offered kindness

I ask Trudy how she renders poetry. “The poet’s job is to tell a story that moves people. It asks the reader to notice something.” In her poem she reminds us that in all situations we have a choice on how to respond. Her ability to craft original thoughts both fleeting and contemplated, experienced and imagined, led her to the poet’s path after receiving a Master of Social Work and working 26 years as a marriage and family therapist. She has published two books of poetry.

“Some people think poetry is dead,” I goad her. “What is poetry’s superpower?”

Trudy stays serene and says: “Brevity. Poetry says a lot with few words.”

I ask her a follow up question: “What do you think the world would be like if everyone read or wrote poetry every day?”

She lines up her words. “Kinder. More thoughtful. Curious. More open to one’s self and others.”

Curious about the poem’s structure, I ask her why there’s no punctuation.

“Know the rules before you break them,” she says with a laugh in her throat. “For me, the comma and the period interrupt the flow. Gradually I eliminated punctuation all together. I use line breaks and spaces for a pause.”

Because she’s still smiling, I ask: “Will you give us some tips on how to create poetry from what happens in our lives, even if our lives are rather ordinary, some may say dull?

She drops some ideas that sounds simple, but are probably illusive to most of us.

Pay attention. What moves you? You can often feel it in your body. It lingers in your mind.

Embrace silence. This lets you hear an idea inside your head or in your environment. Write it down to anchor it.

Let the idea sit for a while until it starts telling you more.

Write it out in longhand on paper until you think you’ve got it. Then move it to a computer and edit.

Don’t tell the whole story. Let the reader fill in the blanks in their own way.

With that, she tilts her tender eyes towards me and I see them sparkle. “Thank you, Trudy. You are a gem in our midst.”