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What Does "Hold My Foot" Mean?
Hold My Foot was a request from my sister Micki, the youngest of 7, who wanted comfort and was not afraid to ask for it! We all have a need for love and comfort; this family history was written to fill that need. The personal stories (including both facts and creative memories) create a history to which I hope everyone will relate. I hope everyone who reads it laughs and remembers forgotten gems from their past.
Peek Into The Book
Molly in my Family History
Molly in my Family History
Molly in my Family History
Both my mother's paternal and maternal ancestors were born In 1820's Ireland, and each sent a daughter off on a boat headed for America. Mary Ann Clare Keane (Molly) landed in a suburban country life in New Jersey. Mary Margaret Campbell landed in Hell's Kitchen, NYC, where it would take 2 generations of extreme poverty to escape.
The story tells of Molly's crazy antics and three more generations that follow, as they look for the love and comfort everyone needs.
Ronald Owens in the '50s
Molly in my Family History
Molly in my Family History
Follow my family through history that may sound very much like your own. Meet parents and grandparents who served in World War I, World War II, and Korea.
Find people who worked too hard, drank too much, and made less than perfect decisions; but they had dreams of modeling, fell in love, and crashed cars for fun.
See how people in each generation moved forward but were still faced with the same life challenges their parents faced.
Mary & Maggy in the '60s
Molly in my Family History
Mary & Maggy in the '60s
The book celebrates the memorable good times--and there were many! The stories of my family of 9 are told through poems, narrative, a short play, monologues, and bits of historical facts and imagination sprinkled throughout.
Every generation faces threats to food, shelter, job security, connections, and respect. What we choose to do is what makes every generation so interesting!
I hope you enjoy it!
Reasons To Write About the Past
Ron Owens
Thinking about growing up in the '50s and '60s makes me picture my brother Ronny, how I like to see him in my mind's eye: a forever child riding a red pedal fire engine -- smiling at his older three sisters in the kitchen doorway, who were car-less. Look for him in the poem License to Smile!
Pat Owens
In the early '60s we were all about dressing up for the holidays. The 'Big Kids' didn't have red velvet dresses to show off in, but Pat did. And boy did she enjoy dressing up! Look for her in the poem Pretty Face, Pretty Dress!
Other Publications with Writings by Mary Owens
Coming of Age, Vol 2
Coming of Age, Vol 2
Coming of Age, Vol 2
Coming of Age, Writing & Art by Kentucky Women Over 60, Vol. 2 was published in 2023 by Red Lick Valley Press. It was edited by Libby Falk Jones and Julianne Unsel. This anthology contains 5 poems that appear in Hold My Foot.
Coming of Age, Vol 1
Coming of Age, Vol 2
Coming of Age, Vol 2
Coming of Age, Writing & Art by Kentucky Women Over 60, Vol. 1 was published in 2021 by Red Lick Valley Press. It was edited by Libby Falk Jones and Julianne Unsel. This anthology contains 2 of my poems and an excerpt from my short play The Tintype.
Writers Digest
Coming of Age, Vol 2
Writers Digest
In the 76th Writers Digest Competition, my poem The Fortress of Your Face won an Honorable Mention. With over 3,000 entries in my category, I was very happy to be in the Top 100!
About The Author
Mary Owens
I grew up in the Township of Washington in Bergen County, New Jersey ("in the heart of the Pascack Valley") with two brothers and four sisters--a large family. A very small town, we had several churches, a temple, a new grammar school (Washington School), a brand new high school (Westwood High), and an Acme supermarket with a handful of other shops in the strip. We had no post office, no movie theater or pizza place; but we had woods to play in, trees to climb, and the Musquapsink Brook.
I became interested in poetry, plays, and journaling in high school. At Ramapo College I found new interests in ancient history, anthropology, and sociology. I was fascinated by how people through the ages had found ways to live together, but never got a handle on how to live peacefully. I went on a spiritual quest, which eventually brought me to Berea, Kentucky.
As a writer in Kentucky, I've met with success in finding a large, supportive writing community. My writing has also found success! My prose and poetry has been published in many journals and anthologies, including Appalachian Heritage, Passager, Appalachian Women's Journal, Muscadine Lines, and three issues of The Write Side Up (among others).
I've had the pleasure of directing half a dozen plays, as well as having several of my own produced: Friendship on the Drunkard's Path (Berea, KY), Taking the Stick (Cornwall, NY), and Leaky Logic (Berea, KY & Hickory, NC). One of two grants I received from the Kentucky Foundation for Women was to write a full-length play called Passing On Gifts about the true story of a farm family in Kentucky that received animal gifts from the Heifer Foundation.
I've led workshops, written Personal History for others, given many public readings of my prose, poetry and plays, and have enjoyed putting my family history together. I look forward to my next writing projects!
Awards
Mary Owens
- Kentucky Foundation for Women's Art Meets Activism Grant
- Kentucky Foundation for Women's Artist Enrichment Grant
- 76th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition for The Fortress of Your Face
- First Prize: Appalachian Writers Association’s Josefina Niggli Award for Playwriting for The Landlocked Pond
- Second Prize: Appalachian Writers Association’s Harriette Arnow Award for Short Story for Life Between the Bookends
- Second Prize: Appalachian Writers Association’s Wilma Dykeman Award for Essay for Finally, Home
