i can identify with this little one
when i was a child
i believed
when i had
my sunglasses on
no one could see me
now, i’m left wondering…
—
“vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.”
-jonathan swift
—
amazon uk – available now
(a repost)
with
one sister visiting
one sister gone too soon
only brother on his way
grandchildren in tow
we visited the place
where we had grown up.
it looked much the same
yet felt somehow not.
much like us.
—
“there is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged
to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.”
-nelson mandela
many years ago
way back in first grade
i took thirty one cents
from hillman bailey III’s open desk
it was a matter of greed and opportunity
that spurred me on
i was really wanting candy from the store
sitting right in front of me
there appeared thirty one cents
almost dropping in my lap
i would repay hillman one day
when i got a job
at least this is all what i told myself
when i bought candy at the store
with my windfall
it didn’t taste as good as i expected
feeling lousy inside
i never told hillman
never made any attempt to make the situation right
but over the years i’ve thought about it
from time to time
today when paying cash at the grocery store
thirty one cents
dropped into the change slot
left it for the next person
maybe they had a child who wanted candy
silently said i was sorry
donated it back into the universe
on behalf of hillman bailey III
trying to make good on my word.
—
“guilt: the gift that keeps on giving.”
-erma bombeck
back in the 60’s
so excited to begin my modeling hobby
black fury arrived
took out all three of the pieces
two horse halves and a tail
laid them out
along with my airplane glue
after reading the directions
carefully matching the halves
adding the tail
it’s black plastic body
smeared all over with glue
but it was together
i had made it all by myself
gave it one last little squirt of glue
for good luck
which missed and went into my eye
my joy turned to dramatic squealing
zoomed off to the eye doctor
went home and looked at fury
with my one good eye
not sure what went wrong
learning not to add
one more little dab of something
when a project is finished
and began my foray into my new hobby
stamp collecting.
“when things go right it’s hard to figure out why,
but when things go wrong it’s really easy.”
-steven soderbergh
(in honor of all the recent space activity and a soon to arrive full moon – a repost from 2 years ago)
50th anniversary of the week of the Apollo 11 moon landing
I was 11
on the cusp of everything
we went over
to my parents’ friends’ house
everyone was transfixed
air was electric
all gathered around the tv
watching
silent and awestruck
gobsmacked
as the first man walked on the moon
spoke his first words on the moon
lots of emotion in the house
I ran to the window to look at the moon
hoping I would see him up there
right in the middle of all of this
the hostess
left to go to the hospital
to have her baby
she named him neil
after that man on the moon.
—
“we ran as if to meet the moon.”
― robert frost
—
image credit: Ann Arbor district library archives