hippohank

Heard the news today
and it wasn't good.
Couldn't get the radio switched
off fast enough.
Death tolls continued to ring
in my ear.

Got out for coffee.
Every laptop on most tables,
more details revealed.
One lonely newspaper in the corner,
old news already.

Escaped outside, free of wifi
and those leashed to it.
By myself until a dragonfly delicately landed
on the brim of my cup
and seemed to say, "You're silly."

Dragonfly wings remind me of paper kites
lost to trees.
Things that tear.
But the dragonfly defies that,
hovers around my head
like laughing.

"You're right, I am silly."
Strange that today of all days
is the day I flirt with a dragonfly.
I smile, despite myself.
I smile to spite myself.

Posted by beth at 04:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

When I tell mom I love her, she says, "I love you more."
I say, "No way," but I know better because when my son was born I discovered she was right.
Now when my children say, "No Way, " I look at them the way my mom still looks at me, with that bit of weariness around the eyes that says, You have no idea.
My son turned 10 yesterday, but I remember it all as if it were yesterday.

Tunneling through the valley
with the sway and a clack, clack
a rock-a-bye for my submerged Peanut
also dreaming of trains.

Zigzags of cinderblock gray burst open
with light and color of backyards along the track.
The intimacy of a clothesline, while shouldering a stranger
with the rhythm of the sway

and the beat of my heart soothes the one close to me,
I've yet to meet, while I nod along with the clack, clack.
The first leg of our journey is a peaceful one,
displaying the signs of life revealed to us along the way.

Then
cast through the air, flung back to the desert,
I'm the only one not singing Viva Las Vegas.
Patchworks of growth below become dusty, revealing less signs of life.
"No, thanks" to the fourth offer of a drink. "I'm pregnant," works on the fifth.
Viva Las Vegas, your birthplace,
but don't worry, Peanut, we won't stay long.
You can take the Valley Girl out of the valley,
but never, like totally,
remove the valley from the girl.


Today I celebrate the both of us... the three of us... the four of us... the six of us...
all of us.

Posted by beth at 06:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hey look, I found a little frog!

Posted by beth at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)