Mary Freericks

Cheer for Freedom Mary Freericks

Cheer for Freedom by Mary Freericks a continuation of her first book of narrative poems about her childhood in Iran is now available on Amazon. This is a larger book including Mary's paintings of her Armenian and Russian family sensitively executed in an impressionistic manner. This book focuses on the strength of family especially the women's support of each other from great-grandmother to great-granddaughter as illustrated in a cheerleading column. The book begins with "Armenian Rhapsody" where her hair is noted into the first rug ever woven, the Pazyryk. It continues with "My grandmother opens her mouth and her mother wakes. We are wrapped in one rainbow shawl." As flour lifts families move from Armenian to Russia, to Iran, to America, the challenge of learning a new tongue. She sees language as fluid "All seas are seven conversations." "As a child how easily I learned Russian, Armenian, Persian In America I struggled learning English." And continues into "Lost again, the road unfamiliar." In the last section she questions having left the rule of the Shah, the peacock throne, she questions "will our flag still wave liberty?" And "who will count my vote?' At the end the book reaffirms the power of women half a dozen members of her family support each other in a cheer leading stance with her granddaughter on top.