Domestic Tranquility

Could I escape a moment
Have a thought all to myself
And dream a dream
Dance a dance
Or paint a piece of furniture red
Begin a novel
Write a letter to a friend
Walk carefree in the rain
Without a thought
As to who will wipe the mud off of my shoes
The days it seems
Are gone
Before they even begin
As moment fades to hours
And hours into days
That write lines upon my face
And cheerful possibilities are swept away
With necessity
The tyranny of the urgent
Responsibility
Can anybody else answer the phone
Pay the bills
Wash the car, bathe the dog
Make the grocery list
What I wanted so much
To be a mother and wife
Now threatens to take my own life away
As day after day
I get lost
In what some would call
Domestic tranquility

Lest anyone think I don't love my family, please know that I do. Sometimes I just crave a minute, or maybe five or ten consecutive ones to myself, that are otherwise unaccounted for.

A Kingdom Most Pathetic

No more words

No more

They hurt

And wound

And cut

And twist

I cannot think

My mind goes blank

How can it be

That I who stood

And watched you drive away for good

Be the culprit

The perpetrator

Of this great drama

That plays out between us

I want to slam on the brakes

Make it stop

Spin the world back to the day I was his princess

Wearing the paper crown

And fuzzy bathrobe

Smiling through fever

Because he thought I was beautiful

And now the king of my heart

Is dethroned

I can’t love anymore

Someone who loves with words

Yet in deed most unloving

An empty kingdom does not a princess make

And it is I who sit on a throne most pathetic

Wishing for butterflies

And bubble gum

Long rides gazing up at stars through the windows in the back of a Pinto

With the one

Who doesn’t remember that once, I held his heart.

Our Recent Favorite Poems

These poems are from a book called A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein. My kids and I love them. I love that they are silly and intelligent. Here are two that we have enjoyed.

Wild Strawberries
Are wild strawberries really wild?
Will they scratch an adult, will they snap at a child?
Should you pet them, or let them run free where they roam?
Could they ever relax in a steam-heated home?
Can they be trained not to growl at the guests?
Will a litterbox work or would they leave a mess?
Can we make them a Cowberry, herding the cows,
Or maybe a Muleberry pullling the plows,
Or maybe a Huntberry chasing the grouse,
Or maybe a Watchberry guarding the house,
And though they may curl up at your feet oh so sweetly,
Can you ever feel that you trust them completely?
Or should we make a pet out of something less scary,
Like the Domestic Prune or the Imported Cherry,
Anyhow, you've been warned and I will not be blamed
If you Wild Strawberry cannot be tamed.

Ations
If we meet and I say, "Hi",
That's a salutation.
If you ask me how I feel,
That's consideration.
If we stop and talk awhile,
That's a conversation.
If we understand each other,
That's communication.
If we argue, scream and fight,
That's an altercation.
If later we apologize,
That's reconciliation.
If we help each other home,
That's cooperation.
And all these ations added up
Make civilization.
(And if I say this is a wonderful poem,
is that exaggeration?)

East Texas Weather

I had complained so much about the large amount of rain we had here in Texas - but then we were blessed with a couple of weeks of sunshiny weather, great temperatures, and the first signs of spring - blooming flowers, tweeting birds, gentle breezes. I have enjoyed it so much.
Yesterday afternoon I spent a couple of hours on my porch swing with a good book. Kullen came out for a while and we read some Shel Silverstein poetry. He cannot get enough of it! The weather was absolutely perfect. It was an idyllic lazy Sunday afternoon. Not even the cars driving by seemed in any hurry.
This morning when I woke, it was not daylight. I would have thought it was just the time change if it hadn't been for my husband calling on his way to work to let me know a serious storm system was headed our way. Now it is almost 9 am and it is PITCH BLACK. There are thunder claps and lightning zaps everywhere. I don't mind the storm as much as the idea of tornadoes. I got online specifically to look up tornado warning signs and found this great website from NOAA weather service. It had a lot of pictures, warning signs, and ideas of how to be prepared and what to do. So here I sit, looking for green clouds! (Did you know that was one of the warning signs of a tornado?)

I'll post our most recent favorite Shel Silverstein poems in another post later!