Tag Archives: poetry

The Paper Route

children, Dreaming, Family, Fear, impatience, Love, Parenting, Poetry, , , , , , , , , ,

An almost forgotten employment
For my almost teenage boy
Delivering the news to doorsteps
While others slumber, sip coffee
Get ready for their day of labor
He saw the notice in a well placed
Ad stuffed into our mailbox
Available; three routes,
Twenty-five bonus just to sign-up
His round Dr. Seuss eyes,
Absorbing the countless
Possibilities of purchases
To be made with all that money
The new computer; mine
Only for me, he imagines specifically

Not wanting to squelch excitement
Conjured from a hope that he
Will make his wish into possibility
Fulfilled by his own volition
I secretly ponder the realities
In thoughts that swirl around details
He only contemplates the cash
Like a loony toon character with
Dollar signs that ring up in his eyes
The neighborhood is two miles away
I offer to drive him there
Every day, at five am, except Sunday
When the former paper boy, his dad
Performs this troublesome honor
The day thick with all those ads

After a week or so, his route memorized
Which gradually worked into a month, this child
Who cried the third day in frustration over wind
That sent him skittering to jumble
Those black inky folds neatly back together
While watching from a distance
I reminded myself this was not a something for me
To scurry towards making it all better, but
The invisible pull to save made my viewing
Heart fold in a cringe feeling his fear that
He would fail in this personal quest
To be slightly independent
These spaces of quiet morning time precious
Where every bunny rabbit still gives pause
And every paper delivered a tiny success

Just Tell Me No

Coping, Poetry, Self image, , , , ,

It is easier to hear No
Than nothing at all
An answer into which
Teeth can sink down
Clenching tight in
Extended duration
Held safely in place
So as not to do
Long term damage
Until disappointment
Can be chewed
Savagely into
Tiny enough bits
That can be
Swallowed gone
Until forgotten
That unpalatable
Response is placed
Where it belongs
And flushed away
But not knowing
Wondering until
Silent rejection
Now assumed
Becomes this
Lonely black hole of
Empty space
Without justification
A nothing to
Contemplate with
No beginning
And no end
Nothing to glance at
After ridding yourself
You can turn
And simply
Walk away

Spring

children, Love, Poetry, , , , , , , , ,

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

The Cardinals

Love, Poetry, , , , , , ,

Two of them, bright red, clicking incessantly
Singing like guys on a corner as beauty passes
In a skirt and high heels, ignoring the notice
This female flys from her branch to the ground
Playing hard to get or maybe just bored with
The game, the silliness of deciding between what?
One’s regal red adornment or the other’s loud song
Choices, she must be thinking, it’s all about the choices
Does she really have a choice, and if she does, is she
Aware it is her choice? Or do the brilliant red feathers
The lovely whistled song make her forget she should
Stay an equal partner? It isn’t easy laying the eggs and
Sitting in a nest while he goes to get food, he may
Find another who suits him better while she waits in
That nest, on those eggs, and it just seemed like it would
Be fun back when she was being chased, pressured
To decide between freedom and trusting one of them

All or Nothing

Love, Relationships, , , ,

To have it all
When all cannot
Be defined in
Human terms of
Understanding

Naturally
We search for more
Here, there, elsewhere
Attempting to
Rediscover

The loveliness
That was first found
Simply having
Part of the whole
Still mystery

In not knowing
Not feeling each
And every
Bit of what could
Be possible

To be nothing
Easier said
Than to be done
Existence proves
You were something

Even if now
You have left me
Alone, quiet
Everywhere
You are something