filmed, nitpicked, observed
teaching methods analyzed
no simple summer
Summer School Blues
filmed, nitpicked, observed
teaching methods analyzed
no simple summer
seasons
Too Cool for Creeks
in the golden light
i pretend it’s one year back
when she still loved creeks
she smiles for me
for this gilded summer pic
to placate my wish
but after? they play,
she lies back in the shade, bored
of being in creeks
no crawdad searches,
no hiding out in the fort–
grown in just a year
but i’ll take the pic,
make it my background; pretend
just like she used to
Fruit Snacks
twenty pounds of fruit
too many carrots to count
unwanted by teens
this bag carries all
sometimes heavy, sometimes light
let’s make us some juice!
road trip car snack solved
puréed, frozen, cooler prepped
break open and serve
(how i miss my girls
away at camp, house too still)
i fill it with plans
Weathering
flat tire, blue sky
my Saturday summer break
(till summer school ends)
goslings with goslings
we cycle through challenges
and beat the rain home
My Brother’s Bar waits
with a perfect patio
and Arnold Palmers
REI repairs
what’s left of my human faith
ride home: tires full
the creek overflows
not enough to stop my girl
(daredevil like me)
now, patio time
lighter rain than what we’ve had
such is life, weather
Call to Prayer
my morning prayer call:
please end these flooding puddles
water can destroy
our house ruined thrice
our hope so oft washed away
ponds where there was lawn
but look at the view
the first-world rainy view
to make my request
after the drenched walk
to a surprise bonus check
to start my summer
it’s like He listened
by midday? pools and blue skies
walking can save souls
Cycle Through It
a flooded river
can’t keep pedals from the path
when at last there’s sun
The New Drive-In
summer-teasing sky
in the midst of finals week
beckons this field trip
free lawn movie night
we can pretend school’s out
just four days early
Return
sunny skies return
for a barbecue birthday
mimosas and love
perfect city walk
through the perfect Denver ‘hood
gold gardens galore
kids with grandparents
treasuring these small moments
till the rain returns
Voices
younger girls’ voices
marred by oldest’s attitude
they just want to sing
i just want to hear
all their tiny voices sing
like when they were tots
concert on the green
plagued by rain, adolescence,
unforgiving looks
at home, peace returns
Daddy’s voice sings poetry
as he says goodnight
the oldest studies
in her hole of happiness
escapes into books
my voice escapes me
don’t know how to talk to her
no voice of reason
will she hear my voice
when in my dreams, she listens?
gives voice to my joy?
we all have choices
to hear the ‘tude or the song
listen… sweet voices!
What Makes a Marriage
The campground we paid $57 to reserve was covered in snow. Bruce texted me at 2:52 and said we had to cancel. I thought of six devastated girls and my Jordan National Forest upbringing. “Just drive down 285. Surely there’s something.” He reluctantly agreed to meet me in Buena Vista. At 8pm, we pulled into our non-campground, no-bathroom site and fixed Spanish dinner by 19:30. 😉 The next morning it rained/hailed for 3.5 hours, ending with a frightening lightning storm when I said, “Kids, get in the car! NOW!!” And I blessed the lord to let him drive…. Up the road and into a mud pit. He screamed, cried out, “Our brand new car!! Why did I do that?! Why did we come on this trip?!!” And I opened my door, stepped in 7 inches of mud, and walked 100 yards to a camp full of 4-wheel-drive fanatics who came with their tow line and Jeep Rubicon and pulled all 8 of us, Pilot and all, right out of that pit of hell. And he drove reverse for a quarter mile (something I could never do) and the hail melted and the rain stopped and that’s. What makes a marriage.
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