Posts Tagged 'family'

Great Day

Great Day

Last Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, I went to a local supermarket to get a few last-minute items. We always seem to forget something in our main food purchases. The parking lot was filled to overflowing and I had to hunt for a spot.

As I walked the aisles, list in hand, I found lines of shopping carts end-to-end plus stockers trying to replace items on empty shelves. This would not be a quick trip.

I marked my list, interrupted occasionally by a near collision, and the challenge began to take on a dream-like quality. I saw no frowns. Stockers cheerfully rose from their shelves to help customers find what they needed. Smiles acknowledged the call for teamwork and everyone played fair.

The lines were long, but checkout was efficiently and joyfully done. As I worked my way across the parking lot, I looked back toward the storefront to see if the appearance had changed into something more Disney-esque.

At this point in the story I could pull the old gag “And then I woke from my dream.” But this is the way it really happened. Almost a week later my mind goes back to that magical hour when people realized the situation and decided to go with the holiday spirit, respectfully working together to make the best of it.

 

Debts

I am far behind
on my opportunities to use
those three words
so often thought, infrequently heard

I find myself wishing
for one more hour
with my parents

wishing I could go back with
my kids back to a younger age
to make up the deficit there

to listen a few moments to a friend
when I didn’t have the time

and my wife to whom
I can never say enough
I love you

Infamy

For our fallen military – Veterans Day

Fair Sunday morning

port of pearls

a child draped within mother’s arms—

battleship quays strung and fastened

swarms of flies disturb        awaken

a sleeping force gathers itself

to swat them away

fighter planes perched tip to tip

flightless, fall easy prey

Arizona, hit by piercing flare

ripped, gutted by stowed magazine

settles to her watery bed

as hundreds float stillborn within

Desperate dancers

search for space between bullets

a twisting, arching ballet

to tympani fortissimo, staccato snare

hot bite of shrapnel in treble screams

between oil and flames

a human log jam crowds the sea

with glass eyes and waxy fingers

wayward toe

torn lip that last kissed mother goodbye

others lie on stretchers

awaiting trial by triage

Uncle Roy’s dreams                Billy’s future             generations dissolved

suspended by marriage of powder and steel

in frothy, bleeding brine

Hyphen

Carl Shakey married Becky Tree

became my parents

so I was

Chuck Shakey-Tree

a few months ago I married

the beautiful daughter of

George Dull and Brenda Axe

my new bride, Charly

told me today of our pending child

but what a burdensome name for a child

learning to spell

Carl or Carla

Shakey-Tree-Dull-Axe

Changin’ Times II

There was a time generations ago

when the frail held a special place

at the family table

 

            we wanted to love

 

There was a time generations ago

when we sat at Grandma Mary’s feet

and heard her stories

 

            we wanted to know

 

Now is a time of

bleach     bland food    walkers

blaring Fox News

 

            stored like teacups in a cupboard

Hyphen

Carl Shakey married Becky Tree

became my parents

so I was

Chuck Shakey-Tree

 

a few months ago I married

the beautiful daughter of

George Dull and Brenda Axe

my new bride, Charly

told me today of our pending child

 

I ponder the burdensome name for a child

to learn to spell

Carl or Carla

Shakey-Tree-Dull-Axe

Togetherness

“I’ll be everywhere…. Wherever they’s a fight so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there.” John Steinbeck,  The Grapes of Wrath

 

each new day kills plans

to earn his way,

in all this land there is no place to go

 

his daughter wears

a tearful, crooked smile

her hunger a spear run through his soul

 

his promises come flat

and meaningless

his shame floods every corner of each breath

 

until he hops a freight

and goes away

to try and send a dime to take his place


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