2 quotes and 2 poems

Uh-oh, it's been a week since I've blogged! I keep thinking of things I want to put on here, but then I don't get the chance and it slips away. Two such things I do remember.... The other morning, Jacob said to me, "Does Daddy have any more dirty work today?" I thought that was so funny, because it made it sound like they had been dumping bodies in the river over the weekend or something. Really, they had been cutting off tree branches and trimming bushes in the back yard. The other thing was this morning. Jacob snuck into our bed, and he was very cold. He whispered, "Mommy, it's like Antartica in my bedroom!" We just read about Antartica in his children's encyclopedia this week, but I was still amazed that he said it perfectly.

I found my old folder of poems this week while digging through boxes in the garage. I think I will post a few on here. Here are a couple from my poetry class:

Life as Normal

14 years old, blonde ponytail, crisp-pleated cheerleading skirt
Sleepy little town in the middle of nowhere
with a brick main street and hideaways on the outskirts of town for illegal beer
Summer-dried grass crunches beneath my feet on the worn path home
Crunch to broken sidewalk to manicured lawn of the First Baptist Church to red dirt alleyway -- Almost home.
White Oldsmobile with a broken taillight resting heavily,
still
in the sloped driveway
Near the modest yellow sided house
with overgrown bushes and a large picture window
Dad's home already?
A lag in my step, almost unnoticeable
And a cold dullness descends
Life as normal in a sleepy small town

My poetry professor thought I was describing a situation where a girl was being abused by her father, and was nervous because she saw he was home early. Yikes! Actually, this was describing an experience I had (maybe several times) right after my Dad died. It's weird how you will forget someone is gone. Your brain just can't comprehend or keep hold of the fact at first. I think this was the poem where you were supposed to use sensory descriptors to set the emotional tone, without describing the emotions explicitly. I got points counted off for the second to the last line because it was too explicit.

Yvonne

One day
We danced
And I thought I'd nearly burst my joy over
flowed

The next day
you left me

alone

I cried wordless prayers

Some day

I'll clasp your small beautiful hands
And we'll spin and dance again
With your wild curls trai
ling

Sorry, these are both really depressing poems, huh? This was a hard semester, I guess. This one is about my friend Yvonne who was killed in a car accident. The assignment was to use visual cues to add depth to the poem (something to that affect anyway). I was describing the joyous little-girl openness and the hope of eternity that we shared in our friendship.