Like a koala bear on eucalyptus, she clings to her mother’s
Leg, howling. Her father plucks her loose
And carries her to bed. He says nothing. Enough
Words have steamed the air from the pressure cooker
Of the long day’s doings from nursery school
To carnival. I recall, if he does not,
A time when he too cried unconsolably
All the way to the doctor’s office and back
Because a new and tired mother slapped
A toddler who had thrown her glasses on the floor. The
prescription
Issued by an annoyed pediatrician was aspirin for her
And more tolerance for him. I tell this tale
To my daughter-in-law, who is sponging magic marker
From the carpet with regret for the scolding she has given my
grandchild.
Category: Memories Poems
Recollection poems
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FAMILY: CONFESSION
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FRIENDS: SPANISH GETAWAY
SPANISH INTERLUDE
(For Pauline)
Behind us crystal curtains
Flow over royal fountains.
Madrid’s sunlight is unkind
To our aging skin, but her pixie
Style bridges the years
Since I last saw my earliest
Friend. We were spanked
For crossing streets and wheeling
Doll carriages around the block.
We whispered forbidden secrets
And played ring-o-leave-o after dark.
Now we have escaped for a week
On a trans-world getaway
From family responsibility.
Palace flags flap.
Sipping diet drinks,
We watch a gardener shaping
Boxwood towers. Having sought out
Marzipan, porcelain and damascene,
We are free to recall paella
On Fishermen’s Beach, staccato
Heels and castanets, Velasquez’
Golden glow, reflections
Of roses in Moorish pools.
Lacy arches, Don Quizote
Tilting with windmills, olive trees,
Neanderthal caves on Gibralter, and
At El Escorial the odor of mortality.