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| Taree's Poetry summer, 2005 |
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| SHE READS BOOK AFTER BOOK I see her at the window. Head tilted down, flipping pages at lightning speed, the white ruffled curtains brush the back of her tousled hair. A glint of sun glances off the metal of her wheelchair, forcing her eyes to squint slightly. She reads book after book, taking herself to exotic lands to meet colorful characters who live unusual lives that she might otherwise never know, as I travel back and forth in front of her home confined to my daily grind. Today she pounds a tambourine before a gypsy campfire, golden earrings a-dazzle. When full-up with hickory smoke and the sound of excited violins, she might saddle up and take a gallop atop a painted pony to closely survey the earthen hues of the Grand Canyon at high noon, sun beating down, wind in her face, equine sweat rising up to mingle with her breath. She's already tasted more places, in and out of this world, than I've yet had time to dream about in all my life. She wishes she were I as she pensively watches me walk past her window. Would she ever guess that I wish to be she? In full control of my life and where I'm going next. |
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| THEY JUMPED DOWN THE STEPS Dressed in rumpled blue and black plaid uniforms over once-crisp short-sleeve white shirts now askew, they jumped down the steps of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic School. Early this morning, each of them had cried in the doorway, and clutched hard to their mother's leg, begging to be taken back home where all is safe and known. Instead, fingers were pried open freeing motherly skirts, tears were dried, and small faces turned toward new experiences with a gentle push forward, forcing them to break away from familiar arms and all alone face this, the first day of Kindergarten. But now, at 12:15, they jump down the steps arm in arm, fears bravely faced. New friends found. |
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| BIG MOUTH Better be careful what you say because children hear. Things. Lots of things. All things. And when you least expect it, at a critical moment that has the potential to be the most embarrassing, the most defeating, the most humiliating to you personally, they will bust you wide open. Parrot it back, give up your secrets. Specifically to the person or persons you least desire to be privy to the information. For such tiny little people, all children, really without exception in my experience, tend to come equipped with an exceptionally Big Mouth. |
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