“Mother's milk pings from cow teats into a tin bucket, / rounded bottom, worn, thin handle, bent and thick in her fat hand / My mother enters the old grey house under the cloud / That means dark, no matter the weather. / She enters home in a haze, and what sets her off matters not.”
So reads Milk, a poem by Gay Grannary inspired by events from her childhood. Her sister, local Cochranite Judy Stewart, remembers the same moment differently and replied with her own piece, Sour Milk:
“Mom burst through the farmhouse door in an unspeakable rage / Still holding the half full 5 gallon bucket of milk she had just teased from our brindle cow's mottled teeth / Prefaced by a wounded moan from deep inside, / she picked the bucket up to chin level and furiously heaved it.”
For the sisters, poetry has become more than a form of expression, it’s a lifelong conversation. Their creative exchange, often sparked by contrasting memories of shared moments, has produced decades of poetic replies, reflections, and emotional resonance.
“I think it shows our character, and it’s definitely rooted in our childhood,” Stewart said. “When she sends poems about her memories and experiences, I often respond with my own version so she knows where I stood with the same idea.”
This back-and-forth has been part of their lives since 1976. Writing runs in the family like ink on the fountain pen Stewart received as a child.
“I didn’t get dolls for Christmas,” she recalled. “I got books and writing materials. From a very young age, people encouraged me to write. My mother would say, ‘Oh, look at this my daughter wrote.’ She was always reading my poetry and saying, ‘This is really fun.’”
Among their 11 siblings, it was Gay who shared Stewart’s passion most closely.
“My sister and I were both teachers,” Stewart said. “She taught English literature around the world, while I stayed in Cochrane. She would write to me, and I’d write back.”
Stewart, who later became a lawyer, never stopped writing. Now retired, she’s putting pen to paper with renewed purpose.
That passion became public this summer when Grannary, who published ‘Come Sit With Me in Cabin 3’ in April, invited Stewart to help present the work. They developed a format they called ‘Poetic Echoes’: Stewart would read one of Grannary’s poems, then follow with her own poetic reply.
Finding a venue wasn’t easy, but Stewart convinced the Cochrane Public Library to host the event despite past challenges with niche programming.
“Poetry reading is a niche subject,” said Carmen Erison, the library’s program and engagement manager. “But we’re always willing to give it another shot.”
The gamble paid off. On July 31, Stewart’s event drew 22 attendees in person and another 15 on a virtual Teams call.
“They really enjoyed it,” Stewart said. “And we sold four books. Maybe we could’ve sold more, but it wasn’t about pushing sales, it was about sharing.”
Grannary joined the call from afar, reading her work as Stewart responded in kind.
“Being able to share it with my sister before a live audience gave me a sense of accomplishment,” Stewart said. “That level of support is really important, especially for poetry, which reflects the emotions and thoughts you carry through life.”
The experience, she added, taught her how much courage it takes to make such personal work public.
“I learned how brave you have to be to put your feelings out there. And I realized there’s a lot of local talent right here in Alberta, especially in Cochrane.”
Buoyed by the success of Poetic Echoes, Stewart hopes to organize more readings and urges the community to back similar events.
“Being an author is hard. It’s very difficult to get your work out there without the support of your community,” she said. “That’s why we need to keep supporting library programs that showcase local voices.”
