PAD 23-1 explanation

 Stuck

 

He has a thousand why nots,

but not a single why.

He sounds very convincing

about why he shouldn’t try.

He sounds reasonable,

too smart for his own good,

when he explains why he shouldn’t

do all the things he should.

PAD 22-2 bird

Colorful

Like living flowers

Curious

Musical

Flitting, flying, fluttering

Fun, feathery friends

PAD 22-1 birds

 Birds

 

My mother was afraid of birds. When one would get into the house, Mom would go into near hysterics. She would put something over her head and run out of the house. When she was little, she was frightened by a chicken flying in her face. My sister says she remembers chickens with their heads off running through our grandfather’s yard. It gave her nightmares.

 

Feathers flapping fear

Formed from a child to adult

No birds at our house

 

In junior high, it felt kind of weird to get to know my best friend’s mom. She loved birds. She’d find them wounded in the yard or out in the street and bring them in and nurture them back to health. Walking in the house, you could always hear a bird chirping. I knew my mom would never visit there.

 

Identical birds

Could cause terror or delight

Interpretation

Poetic Bloomings simile or metaphor

 COVID Thanksgiving

Grateful retired couple

As quiet as snow

PAD 21-3 tell

 Musical Memories

 

I remember songs from grade school.

We had music class and sang old songs:

Go Tell Aunt Rosy, It Rained a Mist,

I Laugh When I Think of the Small Armadillo.

I didn’t know what an armadillo was then.

Now I do. My daughter moved to Louisiana

and happened to run over one. I didn’t laugh.

PAD 21-2 tell

 Traveler

 

You never can tell

what you will discover

or what adventure awaits.

 

New places and faces.

I feel the need to escape

to somewhere new and different.

 

Days filled with laughter

at dry jokes and mishaps.

Exploration, mystery, fun.

 

I’d like to follow my nose

and see where it goes.

Who will go with me?

PAD 21-1 Tell

 Tell Me a Story

 

Tell me a story of you and Linda

and the rest of your family.

This was a bedtime ritual

between my little daughter and me.

 

I’d tell her of the fun things we did,

 the mishaps and adventures

of my sisters, cousins and friends

growing up in a country valley.

 

Of riding bikes, hiking, sled riding,

climbing trees, jumping on pogo sticks,

rolling down hills in cardboard boxes

or in tractor tires. Playing croquet.

 

Of playing hide and seek, sardines,

The Man from Uncle, Gilligan’s Island,

spies, Spaceship, Batman, Statue,

Freeze tag, tornado warning in the creek.

 

Of the giant game board we made,

the flying ginny, The Sunflower club,

practicing the Cinderella play, the hayrides,

earning money from pop bottle deposits.

 

Storytelling was important and still is.

Maybe that's why we both became writers.