Marlene Hitt at a reading from "Clocks and Water Drops" in Pasadena, 2016
Photo by Maja Trochimczyk
MARLENE HITT (1936-2024)
On 18 January 2025, a Celebration of Life was held for Marlene Hitt, author of two Moonrise Press books, co-editor of one anthology, and contributor to three other anthologies issued by the press.
Marlene was a Los Angeles poet, writer and retired educator with local history as an avocation. She served for many years as Archivist, Museum Director and Historian at the Bolton Hall Museum in Tujunga. She was a native Californian and a graduate of Occidental College. She also studied at CSUN, USC, UCLA, Glendale College and Trinity College, Ireland. As a member of the Chupa Rosa Writers of Sunland for nearly 30 years, she worked with this small group of poets from whom has sprung readings at the local library, the Poet Laureate Program of Sunland-Tujunga, and the currently popular Village Poets.
Her poetry received several first place prizes in annual competitions of the Women’s Club, San Fernando Valley, and many awards from the John Steven McGroarty Chapter of the California Chaparral Poets. Her work appeared in Psychopoetica (UK), Chupa Rosa Diaries of the Chupa Rosa Writers, Sunland (2001-2003), Glendale College’s Eclipse anthologies, two Moonrise Press anthologies, Chopin with Cherries (2010) and Meditations on Divine Names (2012), and Sometimes in the Open, a collection of verse by California Poets Laureate. She published Sad with Cinnamon, Mint Leaves, and Bent Grass (all in 2001), as well as Riddle in the Rain with Dorothy Skiles, and a stack of other chapbooks for friends and family.
Ms. Hitt, elected Woman of Achievement for year 2001, served as Poet Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga in 1999-2001, at the turn of the century. She published several books on local history, including Sunland-Tujunga from Village to City (Arcadia, 2000, 2005) based on columns written for the Foothill Leader, Glendale News Press, North Valley Reporter, Sentinel, and Voice of the Village newspapers since 1998. Over the years, she taught in elementary school, worked in a pharmacy, chaired committees, tap-danced, and played English han-dbells, autoharp and ukulele. She dedicated her successes to her husband, Lloyd, her children and grandchildren, her biggest fans. You can find out more about her in a wonderful interview with Kath Abela Wilson on ColoradoBoulevard.net: http://coloradoboulevard.net/mapping-the-artist-marlene-hitt/
Her poems were included in anthologies Chopin with Cherries: A Tribute in Verse (2010) and Meditations on Divine Names (2012). She also authored many chapbooks published individually and in dialogue with Dorothy Skiles. In fact, she wrote poems since she was in elementary schools, and some of them were preserved until her death at 88 years old.
In 2015, Moonrise Press published her first full-scope volume of poems.
POEMS FROM CLOCKS AND WATER DROPS
ISBN 978-0-9819693-5-0, April 2015
Clocks and Water Drops is the first full-length collection of poetry by Marlene Hitt, the first Poet Laureate of Sunland-Tujunga, a former Director at the Bolton Hall Museum, a local historian, poet, and community activist. The book of reflections about her life, family and neighborhood changing through the decades, includes 73 poems in sections dedicated to: Children, Marriages, Portraits, Neighbors, Seasons, Small Things, Passages, and Farewells. The title captures the poet’s fascination with the flow of time, as relentless and powerful as drops of water that can shape rocks and move mountains. Poet Jack Cooper praises Hitt’s “astute and thoughtful voice” while Kath Abela Wilson admires her “confident and consistent phrasing, and exacting vision.”
TREASUREHere it is once again, way back in the closet,the box of treasures collected by children.Feathers, one huge and black from a crow,one tiny from Felicia the finch.And stones:My mother’s rock from the quarrythat inspired a song “Rock of Ages,”New Zealand jade, a rounded pebblefrom the Dead Sea.This is where my penny went,the one I wore in my shoe at our weddingand the cigar, still wrapped,from when our son was born.Keys, shaped for castle doors, for valises,for piggy banks and diaries. Keys lost,found far too late for any locks.I remember the dandelions blown in the windand this one glued to a paper plate, imprisoned,never to blossom and this Saskatchewan wheatpulled up by Uncle Alf when he stopped the truckto find a souvenir that last evening.And this one magnificent marble!What is not a treasure?What can be tossed away?
LOVE MENDEDThat old threadbare word – loveflows in a fabric patternedwith shades of crimson colors,whispers of mauve and the yellow of dry sun.Chopin wove love into the air,Monet stroked it onto canvas.That word so often patchednearly falls apart, its meaning frayed –until a newborn criesor a daughter becomes a bride,until the lace of fifty years togetherfully knits. Love unravelsuntil a friend perceives and cherishes,until there is an ear ready to listen,a shoulder to cry on. Love is repairedwith the consecration of all the threads.Then, there is delight in love’s stitching,the worn word renewedinto the One Love.Mended.
MOTHER’S DAYMint leaves from her garden,baby carrots, snap peas,red-ripe tomatoes and apricots...As with paint pots before canvasand her hands the brushes,she arranges the color of the meal.Monet’s gardens stay for centuries,hers are devoured in an hour,live only in memory. Meals:potatoes sprinkled with parsley,lamb with Asian pear and kiwi salsa,chipotle glazed apples,chicken orecchiette soupwith lemon grass and cilantro,vanilla bean soufflés,flour pudding, corn poneswith butter and syrup.Her hands fashionbok choy cooked crisp-tender,haggis and ale, oatcakes and mutton.A treat of strawberry ice cream,grilled cheese, chocolate milk.Mother.Warm bread, the morning’s cream,corn cob jelly, French toast.Acorn mush, piki, and a sprig of sage.The maker of fine art.My mother.
In 2020, Marlene co-edited the anthology "We Are Here: Village Poets Anthology" commemorating the 10th anniversary of monthly readings of Village Poets held at the Bolton Hall Museum. As co-editor of the volume, in addition to presenting 82 poets that were featured during the 10 years of readings, I decided to also include "portraits" with up to 10 poems each of all Poets Laureate of Sunland Tujunga, a program that Marlene pioneered. In "her" section, the following poem appeared.
Marlene Hitt's second full-size poetry volume, that includes 129 poems written between 1998 and 2022. appeared in 2022, with assistance of Alice Pero who was the spiritus movens behind bringing the project to completion, as she worked with Marlene to pick and organize poems into book sections. These poems bring together the fruit of a lifetime of wisdom and creativity. Some poems are reprinted from earlier publications; the poet's favorites have appeared in print several times. Others are either new or have never been published. The poems were selected by Marlene Hitt, Alice Pero and Maja Trochimczyk from Marlene's vast output of well-crafted and insightful verse. https://moonrisepress.com/hitt---yellow-tree-alone.html#/
I WONDERI wonder what joy isAnd where is death.I wonder about the newborn babeAnd its one and only breath.I wonder where love goesWhen it steals away,And the place where the years goDay by day.
RIPPLES
In my room I smell a cigar though no one smokes;
outside, ripples cover a still, clear pond
I know something makes those creaks
and passes beside my face, just out of sight.
That is the way of ghosts ― a presence gone
from the water, from the room, my dad
smoking his cigar somewhere. Not here.
Phoro by Maja T.
REVERIESEnchantedare the cottonwoodsHauntedwith the sound of a breezeMagicare the river rocksCharmedI am in my reverieI wishthat I could ever beContentas flowers in the fieldUnitedas the grass and treesCapturedas to peace I yield
WHAT COULD YOU DO WITH A BUBBLE?A child could see a rainbow in it,A frog could be born.Time could do somethingReally special.Waterbug could do hisHunting, free to breathe,While old men sit still toPonder its beauty.A scientist could measure it,Probing its mystery.What could I do with a bubble?I could watch it.That would be enough.YELLOW TREE ALONEYellow treeStands glowingIn sideways lightRegal and gloriousHer beautyHer messageFor life’s meaningWastedWith no oneTo see that goldenRadianceShe singsTo no oneWho’d hear herBut to the Sun, RaThe Giver of Gold
~ Marlene Hitt
The loneliness of the creative spirit is very touching in the title poem, the last one in the whole book - that initially was to bear a completely different title but shifted to a brief but poignant "tree" of solitude and creativity.
In the same year, Moonrise Press issued an anthology of "positive poetry" with work by 12 poems, 8 women and 4 men, who were invited to present their "poems of joy and wisdom" that would be an antidote to the negativity, fear and hatred of the times. Marlene's section, illustrated with the artwork by Ambika Talwar included the following poem:
Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day
You lean to a silver pond
in a brittle pose staring
while circles try to reach you
your palette is dry
mudded to burnt umber
How unlike you
your stiff drooping
how unlikely on this silver day
for wind blew last night
cleared the air, promised
a day fair and sunny
I remember the amber
and the leaves deep gold
when that day itself leapt
far out into all colors
except red which I banished
That day we danced
into intersecting rainbows
each moment luminous and pure
We twirled into the day
the one colored with laughter
that brisk and leaping
zestful soaring day
just the two of us
Quiet Rainfall by Ambika Talwar, Acrylic on Canvas
During her Celebration of Life on 18 January 2025, I read brief notes scribbled onto cards that were later pinned to a large flower bouquet with other farewell poems. I commented on Marlene's birth year of the Rat in Chinese Zodiak and her death year of the Dragon - reading a haiga I wrote for that year in January 2024:
I continued: "Marlene was beautiful. She was beautiful inside and out. She was humble and noble, kind and generous. She did not mind bringing all food for the receptions of Village Poets Monthly Readings and cleaning up afterwards. She did not mind not reading her poems in public, while so many beautiful poems still wait to be published and read." Apart from contributing to the seven books of Moonrise Press, she also served as Judge in the 27th Annual Contest of California State Poetry Society ni 2024 and guest Editor of the California Quarterly vol. 50 no. 4, Winter 2024. Here's an exerpt from her editor's note for this journal explaining her criteria for selecting the best of the best from among poems submitted to the contest:
While every poem is a “good” one, some are more eloquent in style and language. After reading and rereading each poem, I was overwhelmed with the task of choosing. There were so many wonderful works entered! Finally, after much contemplation, I had to create a tie in the third-place winners and add more honorary mentions.
I have a criterion in mind. First, I look for meaning, then language, then cadence. I was drawn to poems that evoked an incident that we could all partake in, such as the despairing feeling of giving up hope at sea, or the experience of the summer heat. In other poems, including top prize winners, I found an extraordinary use of language (especially in verse by Ms. Khalsa and Ms. Schmidt). Many thoughts and lines will always be remembered.
Marlene Hitt, editor of CQ vol. 50 no. 4, Winter 2024
and Judge of 2024 Annual Contest
FAREWELL TO MARLENE, 18 JANUARY 2025
In the invitation to poets sent by Joe DeCenzo, he encouraged them to attend Marlene's Celebration of Life, in the following words: "It is with the deepest sadness we inform you of the passing of Marlene Hitt. She was a joyous light in the lives of those who knew and interacted with her. She was a founding member of the Village Poets and responsible for its growth and development throughout the years." During the Ceremony Joe DeCenzo read Marlene's poems - "Thanksgiving Day," "When I am Old," "Like Gold," "No Title (inspired by the Yeats poem, "The Lake Isle of Innisfree ") selected by her daughter. He concluded his presentation with his farewell to Marlene
FINAL NOTEGod you were a terrific writer,But your greatest poem writPeals in the hearts of your children,Squeals in your grandchildren's joy,Resounds in those who knew your name,Heard your voice and felt your touch.I miss you.Joe DeCenzo
The tenth Poet Laureate of Sunland Tujunga, Alice Pero wrote a poem for Marlene as well.
DEAR MARLENEI have seen your wingsthough to mostthey are invisibleWhere you flywe will be astonishedas you make new lifeNo one diesI salute youyour beautyand strengthYou have brought joyto many livesInvincibleas body is but dustwhile spirit ever rises
With much love,Alice Pero18 Jan 2025
Village Poets wreath with poems by Marlene and for Marlene.
Marlene with olive branches for laurel wreath placed by Village Poets
Poets in the Presbyterian Church in La Crescenta. Richard Dutton, Pauli Dutton, Maja Trochimczyk, Bill and Dorothy Skiles in the front, Pam Shea, Alice Pero, Elsa Frausto and Joe DeCenzo in the back, 18 January 2025.
Village Poets at the farewell to Marlene: Standing L to R: Maja Trochimczyk, Judy Barrat, Pauli Dutton, Richard Dutton, Ambika Talwar, Pamela Shea. Seated L to R: Elsa Frausto, Beverly M. Collins, Alice Pero and Joe DeCenzo, 18 January 2025.
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