“I know that’s valued in your family,”
a friend observed when I described the scene.
I’d asked a 5 year-old his strategy
for taking 7 units from 19.
(He broke the puzzle down into its parts,
and added 2 to 10.) What did she mean?
Does her clan not appreciate the darts
of brilliance children show? How can that be?
Indeed, they’re valued in my family.
I didn’t feel emotionally numb,
but when my eyes began to leak, I knew
significance. They didn’t flow, but from
somewhere in me tears welled and brimming grew.
I felt no grief or sadness. I stood dumb,
and recognizing something seeping through.
A little seam of stamina emerged
I hadn’t understood had been submerged.
(Ottava Rima)
Coronavirus sent me to my room,
of course increasing time alone for me.
I got away sometimes, or met by Zoom
and FaceTime, but there were more hours free
for solitaire – I went from one to three
a day, amassing undefeated streaks.
I learned to sometimes choose stupidity,
to keep on winning all these many weeks.
(Huitain)
I started YouTube yoga on my floor
eleven days ago. I found it tough.
I modified and gentled it, for sure,
and gradually I’m starting to improve.
The humbling fact is I’m beyond mature,
and I will lose what flexibility
remains in me, unless I move. Endure
I think I shall. I’ve energy enough.
Today my eyes leaked happy tears of cure.
(Magic 9)
As usual, she teemed with empathy –
the feelings of her little boy were strong.
She turned her No to Yes, the moment he
(the father) warned the kid that he was wrong
to argue – if continued, they would stop
the storybook, and send the boy along
to bed. The grandma wanted both to drop
their tactics and, by talking, to deflect
with narrative until the child could swap
(in seconds) to acceptance from demand.
The auntie disagreed – he must respect
and watch his tone, she stated like command.
Their four opinions didn’t intersect.
You want to guess if any had effect?
(Terza Rima)
Ignoring you is not a goal for me.
But carping hot and bothered like a shrew,
your shrieking carves the only path I see:
ignoring you.
When I share bothered feelings like I do,
you leap to denigrate my family
with facile observations, never true.
Of late I hesitate to call. Debris
is clogging us and stunting what we grew.
You’re so combative now, I need to be
ignoring you.
(Roundel)
I’ve heard it takes some courage to grow old.
That notion seems as weak and frail to me
as letting decades pass with uncontrolled
attention to one’s flexibility.
The quality unmentioned should be told:
this aging teaches me humility.
I keep forgetting – how I used to move
was then, and now with shock my years reprove.
(Ottava Rima)
A week ago, she tested positive,
and instantly went into careful mode.
Of course she wants her family to live
without infection. Leaving her abode,
she camped inside the cottage while she rode
out symptoms. She improved to almost fine.
They kept on testing and nobody showed
until today the dreaded shaded line…
(Huitain)
The only living things I kill are flies
and ants and other bugs I find within
my house, that whine in ears or bite my skin.
And as I tissue-hasten their demise,
I think a slight apology. My sighs
are small – for sure my act was not a sin,
but ended life that happened to begin
a bit too close to where my comfort lies.
And then I think how fortunate I am
to not be born a bug. How likely was
existence any way? How lucky I,
alive but not an oyster, not a clam,
and not a creature bound to flit and buzz.
I’ll count me apex-glad until I die.
Invite imagination to our chats.
The narrative in full is never told
without a filter, when remote-controlled.
We detail irks so readily, and that’s
suggestive that our ills are manifold.
Invite imagination to our chats.
The narrative in full is never told.
Describing friends and lovers isn’t stats.
Analysis that’s gossip-based is cold
and so far off the mark, it can’t be sold.
Invite imagination to our chats.
The narrative in full is never told
without a filter, when remote-controlled.
(Madrigal)
 | sputterpub on Vacuum |
 | Ronald E. Shields on Vacuum |
| sputterpub on About Mom, With Love |
 | groomie on About Mom, With Love |
| sputterpub on No Blocks |
Sputterpub's Blog 