The road that takes me from the highway to my home
It’s a roller coaster road where you see the top
Of the next hill from the one you’re currently on
Right before you drop down you see the apple tree farm
The sign is blue that alerts you it’s more than
A house with more than just a family living there
Most days the journey is filled with thoughts and problems
Lists and schedules passing through my brain
The nagging reminders of the necessary that are
Hard to escape when heading away from work to home
Today, the first fully lovely day of this spring with
The countryside aglow in green, in newness and
Possibilities that make one so happy to be of this earth
In the valley of the road there is a gaggle of gangly
Legged laughing girls their smiles flashing silver
The sun reflecting their giggles, they pull their hands down
Signaling for honks from compacts and SUVs
All of us with horns on steering wheels, effort
Not required, no pulling necessary, just a few light taps
On my wheel and those girls, the five of them
Successful making memories together in this
Common desire to feel good, the ease of my gift
Little honks from my little red car, and all of us; we’re smiling
Category Archives: children
Donuts
Powdered sugar, cinnamon, and iced
Filled, sprinkled, all dunked with delight
Tired of cereal, eggs, toast and oatmeal
On Saturday morning it’s the standard appeal
Let’s get donuts, oh please, pretty please
Eaten when young and savoring each bite
The old knowing well the result of this vice
But lips to your hips, matters not at this age
Enjoyment in the now is sometimes okay
Let’s get donuts, oh please, pretty please
The power of choice all in my hands
Say yes and provide this simplest of joys
The agony of defeat if they hear, not today
Let’s get donuts, oh pretty please, Please
No regrets for this time when I give them their way
Anxious in the Knowing
Speed, danger, roughhousing
Wrist, thumb, leg, foot, shoulder
The injury of the month club
Stair running, bed jumping
Skiing, zip-lining down across
Hills, tumbling through woods
Never ending careening
Hopping on wheels, by foot,
Flipping, skidding, jolting
For them thrills, excitement
Fears addressed, strength built
Sleep comes soundly, long, deep
Me pleading safety’s sake
Uphill downhill traversing
A path born of great resistance
Life held securely, safe, warm
Forty cushioned weeks, mine
Now each day a toss of dice
Find the balance, the acceptance
With them to be for them until
Time’s breath lashes frolic to stillness
Beware The Ides of March
Babe was a guy who owned a big tavern against a giant rock bluff in a town across the river from us
Dad took me there a few times, going over the bridge, sunshine becoming a foreign intruder when we opened the door to leave
My dad worked on the side bar-tending for Babe, that extra money probably a necessity for his family of seven with one on the way
Being only 4, I didn’t understand why this grown man was called Babe,
and I asked this man behind the big oval bar
He always gave me a kiddie cocktail, which sounded like kitty to me and I didn’t understand that either, he chuckled as I
Enjoyed the deliciousness of that red with the cherries and the orange slice on the teeny tiny colored sword that balanced across the top
On my tenth birthday my mom was still in the hospital with something they were calling high blood pressure
My dad took me to a supper club, just the two of us on a school night, and Babe was there
He joked around with my dad and laughed that my favorite meal was a bacon and American cheese melted on toast
Babe always seemed to be laughing, and as he left he said to my dad, “Beware the Ides of March with that one huh, Buck?”
I never seemed to get Babe’s jokes, so Dad explained that some guy named Caesar’s murder was predicted to happen on March 15th
Ides means middle, Dad said, and so some fortune teller told Caesar to beware the Ides of March
The fortune teller was right, and Caesar’s good friend Brutus helped to kill Caesar on March 15th
Babe was just being funny dad said, no one was going to kill me. Babe just likes to joke around
Being with dad, his only daughter, out where people always put a smile on their faces when they talked to him, was special
My Dad taking me to a restaurant all by myself on my birthday with my five brothers eating who knows what, at home, and Babe joking around
One of the best moments ever!
Even though I didn’t understand much of the joking, everyone was laughing, and it was my birthday
And I wasn’t so scared then that my mom didn’t get to come home for my birthday; like she promised
Breakfast with Buse 