Fragile

You had fallen down the stairs before,
my rough and tumble child.
And you got up to play some more.
You only had a little while.
I have brushed tears off your cheeks
and gravel from your knees.
But all our strength is still too weak
for this day's injury.

Aren't we all so fragile?
How fast we fall,
how carefully we must be handled.
How much we can take,
how suddenly we break…
Oh, how it aches to be this fragile.

You had fallen out of bounds before
with your rough and tumble heart.
But it wouldn't happen again, you swore.
When you felt that burning spark,
you brushed it off as quick as tears
so that you would be fine.
But all our strength is still too weak
to keep our strength in line.

Aren't we all so fragile?
How fast we fall,
how carefully we must be handled.
How much we can take,
how suddenly we break…
Oh, how it aches to be this fragile.

Oh God, take the pressure inside.
I am made of glass. I have no place to hide.
Can I ask, why did you make me so fragile?
Is that something you can handle?

Aren't we all so fragile?
How fast we fall,
how carefully we must be handled.
How much we can take,
how suddenly we break…
Oh, how it aches to be this fragile.

Burst

Maybe it's the music I put on tonight.
The angle of the chords must be hitting just right.
I feel my heart is going to burst.
If it happens this time, it won't be first.

Move Again

Move again?
I can handle that.
That's why I always
wear my hat.

Thoughts

The days that are great only serve to confuse me on the days that are not.
I spend all my time trying to find out why I don't always feel so hot.
Maybe I just spend too much time with my thoughts.

One Man's Treasure

One man's treasure
is another man's trash.
And what you call "things"
could be "stuff" or "crap."
And one man's crap
is another man's…
it all depends what you
want to call it.

How to Write a Poem

It Would Have Been Easy

If I could have only seen
exactly what this year would bring
this would have been easy.
I could have locked myself behind a door
and written every poem beforehand.
It would have been easy.

But this hasn't been easy.
Have you seen how fast time passes?
And so now we have these glasses
but we still don't see twenty-twenty.
No, this hasn't been easy,
A year ago today
I sat just twenty paces away.
So I might not have gone far, but I have plenty.

If I could have known
what I would feel inside each poem
it would have been easy.
It would have felt more like a ride
and less like a black diamond
and it would have been easy.

If I had written every poem this past year
to publish them in the coming one,
I could have spaced them all out perfectly
but they never would have gotten done.
It would be just another idea I had
that never went either well or bad,
but only stale like a passing fad.
But it would have been easy.

And what if I had said "Enough!
Does anyone even read this stuff?"
It would have been easy.
But I had things to write about
just to breathe and get them out
because it wasn't easy.

No, this hasn't been easy.
Have you seen how fast time passes?
And so now we have these glasses
but we still don't see twenty-twenty.
No, this hasn't been easy,
A year ago today
I sat just twenty paces away.
So I might not have gone far, but I've done plenty.

Each

I will pick the pears, for you're too small too reach.
And you shall test the pears. Just take a bite of each.

Thoughts on a Popular Poem

Repeat

Until that lunch when we broke out some MREs
you had never told me all those memories.
There are years you'd probably never even think about
if they weren't arranged in layers in the closets of this house.
And I never really realized just how far my poems go back,
but there were quite a few scattered through that schoolwork stack.
The smell of drying leaves and dryer sheets
brings me back to university.
And then there's all the warmth and chill I can remember
when I hear the song I played on repeat last November.

Creative

I tell my husband my ideas; some are smart, some just wild.
He says "Don't quit your day job!" as he smiles at our child,
and "Go for it! You're home, so what are you afraid of?"
I get to be a mom and I get to be a creative.

To Do Right

He had dreams, and not just at night,
and he also knew what he had to do.
And he knew he'd have to sacrifice,
either way that he would choose.
And in the end he chose to do right
and lay his dreams aside.

But it wasn't the end;
it was only for a time.
Now he's dreaming again
but he still has to decide
how to do right.

Caught Up

If you never know what it's like

to be caught up,

to cross off your whole list,

to have nothing left to do,

then at least

let yourself by caught up in love.

The Truth

I don't want to hear what I want to hear.
I'm not okay with "everything's fine."
I want to know the truth.
When you say "don't worry" I'm worried.
I know we can't all have our way all the time.
I want to know the truth.

I'm strong enough to hear the truth,
and if I'm not than I'll lean on you,
because I'll know you're brave
if you're strong enough to say it.

Your Day

Your grandparents are in town
Your hoping gravity will pull down
all the wrinkles from your graduation gown
in time for your speech tonight.

And regardless of how long you've known this day was on its way,
you still cannot believe that its today.
Your heart is beating harder than it has in a long time
and you know today is your day to shine.

All your friends are here
and your mom can't hold her tears.
The ceremony is drawing near
and you wonder what your love is thinking now.

And regardless of how long you've known this day was on its way,
you still cannot believe that its today.
Your heart is beating harder than it has in a long time
and you know today is your day to shine.

Some might call this pressure, but it's pain.
You rock back and forth like you're insane
and your husband says the doctor's on his way
and that you're doing great.

And regardless of how long you've known this day was on its way,
you still cannot believe that its today.
Your heart is beating harder than it has in a long time
and you know today is your day to shine.

Months of pain up to your chest.
You know you've given it your best.
And you're sure it's time to rest,
but what will it feel like?

And regardless of how long you've known this day was on its way,
you still cannot believe that its today.
Your heart is beating harder than it has in a long time
and you know today is your day to shine.

Good One, Goodell

Pressing

With buckets of apples beginning to stack up,
the need to process them becomes pressing.
Freezing and thawing and mashing and pressing
that is, and then some clean-up-the-messing.

First Things First

There are corners to be cleaned
and pages to be seen,
fruit to be pressed
and a desk that is a mess.

But you can't sing your own song
until you write your own poem.
That's just the way it goes;
first things first.

There are high notes and low,
fast beats and slow,
so many people to please,
and a tremor in my knees.

But you can't sing your own song
until you write your own poem.
That's just the way it goes;
first things first.

Noon

I think she will be waking soon,
seeing as it's almost noon.

Everything

I love the smell of fall almost as much as spring.
But in the spring there's asparagus and rhubarb,
and in the fall there's everything!

Wow

Your first word was "wow!"
Let's keep that going somehow.

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