Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the unread poetry books on every surface in my house. Then I can appreciate Alice’s sentiment:
Month: November 2022
The Prose Poem
It’s been awhile since I posted one of these, but I find this one so moving, it had to go up today. What is a prose poem? Hard to define, but this is one. Or maybe it’s a poem and I saw a version without line breaks. I’ve seen it both ways and chose this one.
They Call This
A young mother on a motor scooter stopped at a traffic light, her little son perched on the ledge between her legs; she in a gleaming helmet, he in a replica of it, smaller, but the same color and just as shiny. His visor is swung shut, hers is open. As I pull up beside them on my bike, the mother is leaning over to embrace the child, whispering something in his ear, and I’m shaken, truly shaken, by the wish, the need, to have those slim strong arms contain me in their sanctuary of affection. Though they call this regression, though that implies a going back to some other state and this has never left me, this fundamental pang of being too soon torn from a bliss that promises more bliss, no matter that the scooter’s fenders are dented, nor that as it idles it pops, clears its throat, growls.
C.K. Williams
Rainy morning breakfast–distraction from the election
This morning with the rain outside and the election looming, Larry came to breakfast with a story about Warren Buffet. He met with Jeff Bezos at some point and Bezos said, “You’re investment strategy is so simple, why doesn’t everyone try it?” Buffet’s answer, “Because no one wants to get rich slowly.”
He also told me that he effected a rule change for his over 55 softball league, the Walnut Creek . The leadership team had made a rule that you can’t tag out a runner to first base. There are many rules like this that are designed to avoid too much contact between older and somewhat fragile players. Larry said the rule made sense that the first baseman shouldn’t be able to tag the runner out, as he might be sweeping back from a wild throw, and there could be a collision, but that if the pitcher could pick up a poorly hit ball and simply step up to make a tag of the runner, that should be allowed. He said of all the rule changes that were voted on at the meeting, his was the only change accepted. Yay for super Larry, who still plays softball at 80!
Whatever happens today, at least I live with someone I love who makes me laugh.