Welcome to the poetry site of Tina Pfadenhauer and Mary Shattuck, a mother and daughter united by their shared love of verse. Mary, Tina’s mother, enjoyed an accomplished career in music as a virtuosic violinist, frequently performing first chair in orchestras and playing in chamber quartets. Tina devoted her career to education as a librarian who deeply cared for her students, inspiring a lifelong love of books and reading and helping students learn more effectively at Newport Harbor High School and Sonora Elementary School. Together, mother and daughter shared a passion for poetry and limericks, all while raising their talented and remarkable children.
The Gift
By Mary Shattuck
Teresa: Grandma, let’s sing a song,
A ping-pong song.
You be the Ping and I’ll be the Pong.
Sing, song; ping, pong; ding, dong
Grandma: Since you’re only five,
And I’m Fifty-two
And I’ve been around
Much longer than you,
You should be ping
Just learning to sing.
Life’s just beginning
And ping rhymes with spring.
I’ve sung my song
forever so long,
I can be pong.
Isn’t it fun
Singing in rhyme?
Younger and older
Sharing a time?
Let’s sing together,
The stone and the feather…
Ping and pong sing a song, swing along…
Teresa: Wait, Grandma.
You can be ping if you really want to. I don’t mind.
Food For Thought
By Tina Pfadenhauer
I just runneth over my cup. So this morning I guess I must sup. Then tonight I will dine on breakfast at nine And have dinner when I get up.
I’ll build all my castles in air Using round plates and meals square. And schemes will have I of pies in the sky So no other dreams will compare.
The brunch in the night I won’t see But by dawn’s early light, we’ll have tea The breaking of bread brings clouds to my head As I taste, all the visions fly free
