Poem Seven - Lallie

She's laughing as she always did,
Head back, mouth wide,
Sparkling eyes scrunched almost shut.
In this picture posted by a friend,
She's with us again,
Laughing at something funny Bill did.
Her sense of the outrageous
Fully engaged.
I can almost hear her,
Almost forget that she's gone.
I want to ask her what's so funny,
And hear her raspy  laugh
As she tries to explain.
We miss that.
How we miss you.

Poem Six - Rocket Dog

We will miss you, Rocket-dog.
Your play-growl that didn't fool us,
The game you taught us,
Where we'd blow at your muzzle
And you'd snap at our breath.
Your warm dog body grew cold today,
Your breath stilled,
And we cried to let you go.
I sometimes wonder why
The Creator gave dogs short lives.
It's not how I would have chosen.
Wait for us, Rocketty.
We'll be there some day.

Poem Five: Southern Kid Food, ca 1960

Tastes from my childhood:
Potted meat on white bread,
Kraft macaroni and cheese,
Canned spinach,
Boxed spaghetti and sauce,
Vienna sausage,
Creamed dried beef on toast,
Peanut butter and mayonnaise,
Apples warm from the reading tree,
Hamburger and Veg-All in
A barbecue sauce over buns,
Tuna and noodles with
Cream of mushroom soup,
Biscuits with cheap steak bits in gravy,
Cornbread dressing and
Canned cranberry sauce,
Ambrosia of oranges and pineapple,
Mixed with coconut,
French toast cut into shapes,
Peanut butter fudge still grainy with sugar,
Mashed potatoes with real lumps
And tiny green peas mixed in,
Cheese grits,
Pineapple Upside Down Cake,
Banana pudding.
We weren't poor.
We just didn't have money.
Looking down the list, I see
Both parents cooked for us.
I see
Just how rich we were.

Poem Four: Tornado

Sky: grey, sparked
Electric fireworks,
Slanting rain, sound of wind
So maddening, fierce,
Trailers spring up and dance,
Dance a tarantella,
Whirling over others
Tumbling end over end.

Poem Three - Math

I was only fourteen.
I did not know.
I thought it was me.
I could not follow your examples.
The book seemed to skip steps.
I did not know
That without math I could not
Build buildings.
Design skateboards.
See fractals.
Become a doctor.
Design a bridge.
Learn chemistry.
I did not know.
That you were a history teacher,
Drafted to teach us.
I know now, you were not sane.
Grabbing girls’ pencils and
Throwing them out the window.
I know now.
Won’t someone teach me math?

Poem Two - Roses

He came in from the grocery store,
Plastic bulging from both hands.
I almost didn’t see the cellophane
But I heard it and turned around.
Wiping my hands on a kitchen towel,
I turned to see what the noise was.
He was standing there looking shy,
With a bouquet of exquisite roses.
One look at his face, and
I didn’t say,
“Those are too expensive!”
I didn’t say,
“But you know I like carnations better!”
I reached for a vase.
The roses
Were perfect in it.
After forty years, he knew
They would be.

Poem One - Daydreamer

I remember the hard wooden desk.
My small self had to stay planted,
While sheet after sheet of purple ink
Passed through my fumbling fingers.
Fat pencils with no erasers,
Gripped tightly, left smudges
On the paper that held my mistakes.
At least the desk had writing carved in,
And I could wonder about the names.
Susan and Danny 4ever,
I love Robert,
MB+RG.
I saw them when I read their names,
It was far more interesting than the papers.
Susan was small and dark,
Danny had red hair.
He thought she smelled nice.
They passed notes from this very desk, and -
What? No, ma'am, I'm not finished yet.