Eleanor williams

WPWP Fellow 1993

 
 

About Eleanor


1993 WPWP Fellow Eleanor Humphrey Williams is the wife of Johnnie Williams III.  Mother of four sons: John, Michael, Brandon and Issa, and a proud grandmother of 18 beautiful children, Eleanor is a graduate of Oliver High School in the Pittsburgh Public School System where she graduated with academic honors. She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Duquesne University in Special Education.  She currently holds a Duel Masters Degree, in Education and Administration from Carlow University and a Masters of Divinity with an Urban Metro Institute Certificate from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.  She is the Founder and Pastor of On the Wall Ministries and Co-Founder of Parents Against Violence.  Eleanor has been employed by the Pittsburgh Public School System for the past 30 years.  She taught Learning Support and Emotional Support Students, she was an Instructional Support/Response to Interventionist and she is currently a Literacy Interventionist.  Along with doing her duties for the Pittsburgh Public School System, she tutors community children.  Eleanor thanks God for her many accomplishments and along with all her accomplishments one highlight that will always stand out in her heart is the Mission Trip she took to Vietnam in 2007

 


Escape


Trying to escape from what, to where and why

Trying to escape from ones self : anxious, nervous, lonely

Trying to escape what may be around the corner

Trying to escape the footsteps, heavy, clanking from tips missing on heels

Trying to escape the long wait after the storm is done to hear the voice of inexperience Hiding in you to hide them selves, anxious, nervous, lonely


Your Wings have been clipped but we try to keep them tied down

The span is greater than a condor ready to sweep away life from what is not real.

Leaving it stagnant with loads of fear and confusion.,

Thirsting to hear what is true only to run with it and fall. Crawl


Trying to escape from what might be waiting

Trying to escape not to hate where you are going

Trying to escape and win the battle that others think is so hard because it is hard for them

Trying to escape the reality that no one understands so they hold you down by your wings stopping you from leaving them senseless, dumb, ignorant  to what isn’t real any way.


Make haste, time is running past you, it no longer seems forever but forever is right now

Wiggle away from the hold of your wings and fly into the life set for you leaving them with a feather wondering how to stop the pain in their eyes as you soar into your destiny.


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Happy



We are happy because we care

We are happy because every time we look up

There is something new to explore

Life is happy, you can’t figure it

There is no time to keep lingering into the night

Embrace the night, watch for the dusk

And breathe, breathe

You don’t need a huge inhale but a forceful exhale

Moving the dust from the cobwebs that have grown

In the mouth, on the eyes and over the ears

As soon as you look up the night is here waiting on you

Just travel through it and laugh at the possessions it brings


We are happy because we care

Empty with thoughts of what should be

We hold on to night’s possessions for just a moment

Even just touching some with the tips of our fingers

We stick to the purpose of the packages we open

No frown, no tear, no moan, no groan, no mourn

MOVE, MOVE quickly through the night for it is almost dawn

Where we can relax and tiptoe not to find the possessions in the night

Just with breath move them into today!


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Grow



Seeds are planted and suddenly they grow

Grow into what? Something all together different

I can’t recognize what I planted

It’s all covered up with what ever came out of the ground


I heard you say if you plant an apple seed you get apples

But I can’t see what I planted

It’s all covered up with what ever came out of the ground


Seeds go in and what you planted MAY come up,

But you have to scratch your fingers down the muddy dirt

And pull out the weeds from beneath rocks

It’s all covered up with what ever came out of the ground


No one listens, no one cares, and no one try to make it right

So you get down on your knees and cry out for the seed you planted but no one understands, no one hears you but the seed

So you cry and cry to water the seed to keep the dirt from hardening

It’s all covered up with whatever came out of the ground


It’s time to subsist with it

all the dirt and mud

and dirt and weeds

and dirt and rocks

and dirt and tears

Until one day you recognize your seed

From where your tears have made the dirt vanish

Just one bud glistering through your heart 

Clashing with the dirt, promising to come into what you planted

Even though………

It is covered with whatever came out of the ground


 

Poems by Eleanor Williams

 

Artwork


“Escape,” $200

Artist: Kara Zupancic