St. Charles resident pens poem about love for St. Charles

ST. CHARLES – Lisa Macaione's love for St. Charles is so great that she felt compelled to write a poem about the city she has called her hometown for 30 years.

Macaione, facilitator for the St. Charles Writers Group at the St. Charles Public Library, recently penned "Ode to St. Charles, Illinois." She is a 1998 St. Charles High School graduate and her family first moved to St. Charles in 1989 when she was 9 years old.

"West of Chicago forty miles was claimed (though Pottawatomie reigned long before) by Shelby and kin Franklin, giving name to Charleston circa 1834," reads the first section of her poem. "In 1989, my family moved to put down roots near where creek waters flow into the river Fox, which travels through the core of St. Charles where I’d live and grow. My mother took me into town to learn about the past through structures standing still. This city’s story told at every turn, the Pride of the Fox born in what people built."

St. Charles is celebrating its 185th anniversary this year. The poem, which can be read in its entirety at the end of this story, is sprinkled with references to historic buildings in St. Charles, such as the Beith House, Hotel Baker, the St. Charles Municipal Building and the Arcada Theatre.

"I am a big architectural aficionado," she said. "I just love architecture and I love the architecture here. I really wanted to do something to sort of capture the spirit of the architecture here in St. Charles and the spirit of the city in general."

The poem also makes reference to the Fox River running through the center of downtown St. Charles.

"These landmarks note where heritage convenes – on Main, the numbered streets and avenues, the river always rushing in between reminding us time is ever renewed," the poem reads.

St. Charles is also where she met her husband, Anthony. Although she attended St. Charles High School at the same time as her husband and hung out with the same group of friends, they didn't start dating until years later. They now are raising their own family in St. Charles.

"We met in high school and then he and I both sort of took off for different places," Macaione said. "And then eventually we both moved back around the same time and that's how we kind of reconnected."

They also worked their first jobs at Blue Goose Market in downtown St. Charles. The poem also references the fact that her love for St. Charles only grew after leaving the city for a few years.

"In 2003, I moved to the Netherlands to do my master's degree in English literature," Macaione said. "I came back at the very end of 2004. After that, I moved to Chicago and then my husband and I got married. We lived in Naperville and Yorkville and now we're back permanently."

She moved back to St. Charles permanently in 2018. Macaione said she feels like she is home again, and hopes the poem will help other people appreciate where they live.

"I would like for people to sort of reflect on their own appreciation for where they live and to think about their history and how they are, where they are and how that plays a role in who they are," Macaione said.

Ode to St. Charles, Illinois:
On the Occasion of the City’s 185th Anniversary and 30 Years as My Hometown by Lisa Macaione

I.

West of Chicago forty miles was claimed (though Pottawatomie reigned long before) by Shelby and kin Franklin, giving name to Charleston circa 1834.

In 1989, my family moved to put down roots near where creek waters flow into the river Fox, which travels through the core of St. Charles where I’d live and grow.

My mother took me into town to learn about the past through structures standing still. This city's story told at every turn,
the Pride of the Fox born in what people built:

II.

Historic Beith House, formed of river stone perhaps conceals within a mystery deep in the basement, masonry unknown– a path to an escape from slavery?

The Twenties roared, construction likewise boomed; from Colonel’s oil-soaked cash and Norris land the Hotel Baker lights the Rainbow Room while Spanish-style Arcada brings the bands.

An Art Moderne lighthouse of marble white, the city building’s tower rises high above the banks, and as day turns to night dispatches color on dark waves and sky.

III.

These landmarks note where heritage convenes– on Main, the numbered streets and avenues,the river always rushing in between reminding us time is ever renewed.

I left this town with no plans to look back – Took flight, rode trains, traveled across the earth, but though I found adventure, something lacked. Departing taught me what this place is worth.

And now I have a family of my own,a roof, four walls to raise our children in,St. Charles, you’re where our hearts have made their home three generations’ story dwells within.