Yesterday, Cate had a post in honor of Simone’s birthday, and I guess now it’s my turn. We mentioned when we started this blog that, on occasion, we’d share some of our own writing here (yes, I realize, of course, that a blog is writing, but that’s not what we mean). I suppose I’ll start. The thing about posting writing on the blog is that I can’t submit it for publication once I do that, so I have to choose carefully.
I don’t consider myself a poet, but I do write poems from time to time. Often, about our family. Here are a couple about Simone. Happy birthday, Biscuit…
Cheese
You called last night,
Child screaming in the background
And asked what we did and
If you were ever like this.
“Oh yes,” I said. “Mostly,
You were very cute.
But sometimes, you drove us crazy.”
“But what did you do?”
“We waited for you to stop.
Once, we almost traded you for a cat.”
“That’s terrible,” you said.
And sounded genuinely offended.
“At least,” I said, “we did not trade you for cheese.”
I did not tell you how close we came.
Airplanes
I used to fly often.
At the airport,
I would buy a copy of Harper’s
Or The New Yorker,
And read it as I waited
For the plane to board.
If I finished it midflight,
I would spend some time
Staring out the window
Before picking up a book.
If it was a short flight,
And I didn’t finish,
There was always the return trip.
Now, I do not fly so much.
Rather, I watch the planes
Fly overhead at night
While I rock my child to sleep
In the cool night-breezes.
I have subscriptions to the magazines,
But, often enough,
They go unread.
Because it is not all rocking softly
In the cool night-breezes,
But that is one of the better parts.
