Form PAD 11-1

 Confidentially

(a quintilla)

 

We planned our month for France/UK

I’m feeling overwhelmed today

The pre-trip jitters at their start

Be still, my nervous, twitchy heart

May I be confident, I pray

How Blank PAD 10-3

 How to pray

Talk to God

Listen

How Blank PAD 10-2

 

How I End Up Speaking Publicly

 

I wonder, “Why do they

think quiet people

have nothing to say?”

Then someone asks.

I answer, “Yes, I’ll do it.”

Then I think.

And pray.

And practice.

And wonder what I got myself into.

And feel like I’m going to die.

And promise myself,

next time I’ll say no.

Then I speak.

It goes well.

It feels like I just disembarked

from a thrilling rollercoaster ride,

without passing out.

And people encourage saying,

“Good job!” and

“You didn’t look nervous.”

And time goes by.

And I wonder, “Why do they

think quiet people

have nothing to say?”

And then someone asks.

And I say, “Yes, I’ll do it.”

How blank PAD 10-1

 

How to Lose Weight

 

I don’t know.

I have a whole shelf

of How-to-lose-weight books

that haven’t seemed to help.

 

Every morning, I ask myself,

“What can I do and eat today

so that I’ll weigh

a little less tomorrow?”

I’ve been gaining and losing

the same four pounds for years.

 

The fat on my chin, my arms,

my waist, my belly, my back,

like a committed lover says,

“I love you the way you are,

I’m not going anywhere.”

number PAD 9-3

 

One bad poem.

That is my aim.

So at least I’ll be done.

Here’s the one.

Number PAD 9-2

 

The Race

 

To be number one

It sounds like great fun

In a race to run

Or even two

 

And not bad to be three

And we’ll race to see

Who winner will be

And so we flew

 

Maybe number four

And my feet are sore

Not fun any more

Dead last when through

 

 

 

Numbers PAD 9-1

Thirteen and Fourteen

 

The boy next door

played different parts

in my story.

 

Friends, enemies.

and when I

I was 13, he 14

sweethearts.

We learned to kiss.

 

Then we moved on

to being like siblings.

I haven’t seen him in years

but he’s a part of who I am.

homographs PAD 8-3

 

Weathering the Weather

 

As I type this poem

I wonder what type

of day this will be

since spring is slow

in coming.

Just day before yesterday

I swept snow off my car.

I was wondering if spring

would skip us this year

and if we’d go straight to summer.

Sometimes it feels like that.

So will I be walking in the park today

watching children skip and play

or let my car stay parked outside,

while I’m warm inside, writing

alternating with cleaning?

Or perhaps both. Maybe after

I write and clean, I’ll go to the park,

after I decide what coat I’ll wear

from the five different ones

coating the back of my couch.

homographs PAD 8-2

 

Poem in a Hurry

 

I will be content

with the contents of this poem

if it contains three homographs.

Meanwhile I have to watch

my watch, or in this case my timer,

because I’m giving myself only

thirteen minutes

with eight minutes 45 seconds to go.

I am getting close, now,

so I’ll bring this to a close

with seven minutes to spare.

After reading it through,

Make that six, thirty-two.

homographs PAD 8-1

 

Opposites

 

My father loved to fish for bass.

He loved to hunt small game and deer.

My husband played electric bass.

That they were opposites was clear.

 

Dad hunted with a compound bow,

And had a favorite fishing reel.

In worship songs, hubby would bow.

A fretless Fender was his deal.

 

As Daddy felled the deer with lead,

My hubby filled the air with song.

And both were well equipped to lead,

And neither man did any wrong.

 

We didn’t have to shed a tear,

For our bond’s tear, we had no fear.

Small PAD 7-3

 

Compared to the universe

Earth is a speck

We are specks on a speck

Small PAD 7-2

 

A thousand little things

On my to-do list

Before my big trip

Number one- take a nap

Small PAD 7-1

 

Nothing’s too big for God

And even more amazing

Nothing’s too small for Him

Smell PAD 6-3

 Pappap Hurst

 

Smelled of sawdust,

(since he was a carpenter)

Jurgen’s hand lotion

(because of the sawdust)

Cologne

(to go see his lady friend)

And candy.

(that he passed out to his grandkids).

 

 

 

Smell PAD 6-2

 

The boy next door

Smelled of woods, fur and fish

And one fateful day, skunk

Smell PAD 6-1

 

Springtime

 

Growing up in Pennsylvania

I remember the smells of springtime

in my country neighborhood.

Apple blossoms, new grass, lilacs.

Trout.

Every spring, Fish & Game would stock

the little creek that ran through.

Fishermen would line the banks

waiting for a bite.

We’d open the fridge

to the smell of fish,

which smelled much better

when Mom fried them in a pan.

She’d always caution us

against choking on the bones.

Noun in Location PAD 5-2

 A Weekend in the Woods

 

I was about to leave for the summer,

spending it in Cheyenne with my Sis.

My friend and I spent the weekend

with my neighbor who rented

a cabin in the woods.

We hiked, talked, took a walk

in the pitch-black forest.

Had a lot of fun.

It was odd that I spent my last weekend with him

and not my boyfriend, but that’s how it worked out.

Then I went off to Cheyenne and met my husband to be.

It’s strange how things happened,

but I trust that as I made my plans

God directed my steps.

Noun in Location PAD 5-1

 A Duck Foot in My Mailbox

 

I introduced my college roommate

to the guy I grew up with.

They hit it off and we’d all write

back and forth to each other.

Once there was a small envelope

within the larger envelope

addressed to C., meaning me,

but Eileen though it was addressed to Ei.

So she opened it, promptly screamed,

threw it down the hallway

and fell on the floor in shock.

It was a duck’s foot.

I wrote back requesting,

no more animal parts, please.

Reality or Dream PAD 4-3

 

The Things You Learn from Your Neighbors

 

I grew up in a non-drinking household.

Or so I thought.

When I was about twelve,

the boy next door told me my dad used to drink.

I never knew that.

I learned later that Dad not only drank

but all the way up till I was a toddler

and had given me a drink of beer and I liked it.

That was my last taste of alcohol

because I decided early on not to drink.

It seemed foreign to me that my sisters

remembered my dad drinking alcohol

and I didn’t know till my neighbor told me.

Reality or Dream PAD 4-2

 Reality

 

When I was nine, I aimed to be a boy.

My hair was short, a simple pixie cut.

I sought some lessons from my neighbor, Roy.

He was inclined to help and teach, somewhat.

 

He said that I should make my hair a mess.

And I should like to run and play in dirt.

And, Heaven’s sake! I shouldn't wear a dress!

And learning to play baseball wouldn’t hurt.

 

We had a hidden fort and had some fun.

We caught some frogs and toads and things like that.

My interest in boys grew, but not to be one.

That phase was laid so squarely in the past.

 

I’m glad, back then, they valued what was real.

For now, they dare to live by what they feel.

Dream or Reality PAD 4-1

 

Am I Chocolate Pie?

 

I dreamed a friend and I sang in a choir

On the front row I saw a microphone

And so I would not sing

She kept on but was deaf in tone

Director emailed and said I won’t lie

That I was darkness and a piece of pie

I was completely thrown

But my alarm went off, no more would I acquire

Connection PAD 3-3

 Connecting Factor

 

After my high school graduation,

my boyfriend told me

that a woman who sat nearby him

was going on about how cute I was.

 

Later the boy next door told me

my friends’ mom, who thought

he and I should get together,

was saying those things to tease him.

 

Ah, so that’s what that was about.

I didn’t tell my boyfriend.

Let him think I had a fan.

Connection PAD 3-2

Rough Childhood

 

At our family reunion

I overheard him talking

“Had a bad childhood.”

 

Two sisters, five neighbor girls

And three more across the creek

Yes, he had it rough

 

However, as I recall

As we grew a bit older

He didn’t mind much

 

He looked and saw me listening

Our eyes met and we chuckled

It wasn’t so bad

connection PAD 3-1

 Well-forged

 

We lay under a shade tree in cool moss

on a hot summer evening

No boy-girl thing, just friends

 

Comfortable, talking about everything

Enjoying our connection

Well-forged over the years

B Movie PAD 2-2

 

My Nineteenth Birthday

 

Celebrating my nineteenth birthday

My mom invited my best friend and the boy next door

 

After eating lasagna and cake

We took a walk on the moonlit night up Wild Cat Road

 

The guy knew his way around the woods

We walked together, talking and laughing all the while

 

At one point we were way off the road

We came upon a building lit up with a street light

 

We had wound up at the State Game Lands

He tried to make us think we weren’t supposed to be there

 

He started running and we ran too

He laughed, thinking he had fooled us into worrying

 

We were just trying to catch up

We knew his B Movie story lines when we heard them