Poetry Train: The Sad

Kylie and I
are snug in a recliner
watching Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs.

When Snow White
is in her glass coffin,
I think of my mom
in pain and how close

she’s come to death.
Kylie wipes tears away.
She sniffles
and says, “Sometimes

the sad comes out
through my nose.”
I reach for a tissue
and give Kylie a hug.

3WW: Modify, Obedient, Veil

The English Teacher’s Lament

They sit, obedient.
“What do adverbs modify?”
I watch a veil fall.

Sunday Scribblings: Fluent

This happened yesterday.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The call comes
while I am walking.

Nancy says, “Mom
fell and is in the hospital

with a cracked pelvis
and other injuries.”

As Nancy talks
I picture my mom

so healthy until five
years ago when cancer

struck. Since then
she’s had heart surgery,

compression fractures,
infections, falls,

bruises, and now this.
My beautiful mother

who never hurt anyone,
is now fluent

in the language
of pain.

Sunday Scribblings: Big Dreams

Someone took a crayon
and colored the tree limbs
white

then placed cotton batting
on all the roofs,

covered the telephone wires
with toothpaste

and dressed the sky
in a gray fleece.

I close my eyes
and see our home in Florida.

I'm sitting on the porch
writing this poem

as the rising sun washes
over my feet

and inches up my legs.
I open my eyes,

see chunks of snow
beginning to fall

from tree limbs,
put on my jacket

grab a shovel,
and start clearing a path.

3WW: Generate, Meager, Tease

Meager snow outlines
the roofs, trees, and bare ski slopes~
Don’t tease, generate!
A SNOWBOARDER STARES OUT THE WINDOW AT TINY FLAKES
Don’t tease, generate
snow for the dwindling halfpipe.
Out, out meager snow!

Poetry Train: Block Four

This is not about...

the watermelon-
colored leaves
I see outside
my classroom
window

or the lavender
weeds
or the white
birch trees
hidden

by the brush.
Instead, it's
about the sun
shining
on students

as they write
bent over
white paper.
This poem
is about them:

Anthony
Andrea
Ashley
James
Jeremiah
Krysten
Katie
Kris
Mariah
Makayla
Shelly
& Spencer.

3WW: Occur, Ragged, Tidy

Ragged winter trees.

Brushes tidying the sky.

When will spring occur?