jjm, 5-14-1947 - 1/28/2003
Relics: A Diary
January 28
As the phone call ended downstairs
I folded down a corner of the Secret Garden,
perched it atop a stack of books, way too optimistic
for the fortieth week, and turned
toward the door to my husband’s
ashen face—
I turned toward the door, the door,
the door beyond which
there be dragons, as the mapmakers used […]

This is a Christmas gift for C (little she-who-is), who is afraid of Santa. The pseudonyms don’t quite work but you get the idea.
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house
not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would […]

three is harder, they warn;
no longer one for each hand.
and yet with
global warming
planes as missiles
war on terror
nuclear madmen
the end of an empire
just how invincible do they think
five fingers
and a palm
really are?

I have no idea where this came from. Other than the fact that my girls get the hiccups a lot.

There was a little princess; Little-She was her name,
She had a sister M, who was a princess just the same.
They’d play and giggle all day long, and splish-splash in the tub,
Until the fun was interrupted with […]

And now for something completely different…
Our freewrite this week in the online writing workshop:

A “spoonerism” is sometimes good inspiration for a humor poem or nonsense verse. Named after W.A. Spooner (1844-1930), a spoonerism is the swapping of the initial sounds of two words to create two different words.
A few examples: “bird watcher” –> “word […]

a draft

the ripe glow between the rooftops
is a wedge of strawberry pie.
always hungry, i throw on a sweater
and pad toward this mid-evening delicacy.
i step straddling over a wire fence,
scramble up the backyard hill,
ready to feast; oh! it was a mirage,
not a sliver of thing to be gobbled up,
but a long roll of wool
carded clean and […]

unrevised
i’m home, but
i don’t want the pilgrimage to end,
so in the plod of rush hour,
i look around and see not
minivans adorned with little league stickers, not
hummers that make me furious, not
steel machines inhaling their fossil fuels and
blowing code orange smoke rings,
but the people inside, pilgrims on the way
to their sacred everyday places,
they are modest as […]

“For My Daughter, Who Insisted on Being Rocked to Sleep Two Days before I Leave for Scotland”

Thank you.

A first draft for writing class. The assignment was “something that keeps you up at night,” and is a topic that’s come up before (see #4).

———–
there are two ways out of a submerged car.
the first requires the tool, a tapper,
a squat metal spike
made just for this, for the window
and i have one,
a trade-show giveaway with […]

ah, dear driver of the hulking black metal,
you “Imagine Peace” in earnest black letters
on a wide strip of white—
and you trumpet your sentiment with
four careful pieces of tape,
tape that will dissolve into gunk,
but easily disappear with goo-gone
purchased at the hobby lobby.
where’s the commitment?
do you think Peace is justsoclose,
so easily imagined, like the song
on the tip […]

For the poetry workshop we received a freewriting prompt, to write a poem incorporating the words yes, once, circle and voice. Here is my (unedited) piece about going to see fireworks last night near the airport.
in the park at the airport’s edge
the plane bears down on us,
but for a few moments more,
i hear your voice […]

hand in hand,
it takes you five steps to realize—
wait, there was something;
you retrace. it’s a rock?
a wedge of terra cotta,
and you grab it.
further down the hill
you see it: fat dandelion!
you pluck it smartly
with the other hand,
put the fuzz to your mouth,
and puff
ffff-ffff
through your nose.
five cottony seeds grab your lip;
still you shuffle on,
a stalk of lazy […]

clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp
clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp
clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp
point
Bee-ah dah! clomp clomp clomp clomp
stop
Bah! Bah! Hi!
clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp
clomp clomp stop crouch
clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp
Uh-dah? Dah? Bah! Hi!
wave
clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp clomp
.
..
…
clompclompclompclompclompclompclompclomp
i was […]

as i sat and clicked in the turn lane,
a funeral procession trudged by,
all grim headlights, wipers flinging the rain,
and i thought: someday,
at some family reunion, egg salad and matching shirts,
they’ll look back on this day; they’ll say,
remember sweet uncle’s funeral?
whew! i’ll never forget that day—
the gusts that blew our coats open,
whipped our legs with […]

we mulched today—
laid a smelly shag carpet
under the trees, smothered tiny maples
that did the best they could.
amid bushes that flourished
in spite of us, tiny sprouts also
dot the landscape,
ground cover that never took off.
they were supposed to spread their arms, hug the earth;
instead, they spring up,
here, there, but not everywhere.
an avalanche of mulch covers one,
and i […]

It’s Holy Week and snow is on its way;
I guess new life will come ‘mid blustery day.
Today is Maundy Thursday; let me say,
I giggle when folks slip and say “MaunDAY.”
I’m sad to say, the sermon kinda bites.
(We’re washing feet—I ought not wear my tights.)
Tomorrow is a day off ‘til the eve
When we nail our sins, […]

Every so often I explore,
like an archeologist:
I drill down, down,
dig back in time,
recall how I heaped
one passion upon another.
The top crust is like a brulee,
thin and easy. But eureka—
Here’s where I thought I should read more novels.
Here’s where I wanted to knit better.
Here’s the parenting section,
when a stomping toddler drove me desperate.
Here’s where I graduated,
resolved […]

So, friends, every day do something
that won’t compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world…
Love someone who does not deserve it.
As the group collected purses and sweaters,
the retired librarian tugged at me.
They’re clearing ten acres behind her house—
single family homes from the low 600s.
One morning, over coffee,
she heard the chains, the phlegmatic grunts of machines,
the roots, ripping […]

So I read last night about the importance of titles in poems. Which is bad news because I rather suck at titles. A title is good for conveying information quickly rather than letting the poem get bogged down. Or, it might provide the “final thought” or response to the poem. I tried my hand at […]

So it’s National Poetry Month, and here’s a poem inspired by Ted Kooser’s “Abandoned Farmhouse”. Fun format.
our weekend

the girls had a sleepover with MaDear,
says the pink suitcase lying in the hall.
R & I decided to spend Friday night downtown,
says the protest cat puke in the family room.
this weekend was the peak of the cherry blossoms,
says […]