Backyard Poetry
Chocolate rooibos tea,
and a tall blade of grass with
small, bold red ladybug and the
straw hat
my mother wore in that picture,
me, 4 or so
laughing
her nose next to mine.Â
Joy and life and books
and smiles
and friends and
dates and
a dream of some future family,
but I crave
contentment now
in my straw hat and the sun
and the
way the
ladybug
crawls vertical up the long blade of grass
and then
falls,
free falls.
Lets it happen.
Or has it happen to her.
And she’s realizing she is not in control,
but that the grass is still green
and water still falls from the sky
and contentment is not a destination
but a joy in the journey
a joy because of the journey
a joy because she
believes
and no matter what they say,
it is enough
to write poems
and laugh at the shadows
and make sheet forts.
It is enough to
pull the clumsy lawn chair
diagonal,
right in front of the sun
and to sit
and take the moment,
whether or not it rains
whether or not it heads
west.
and whether or not
things change,
they will change, and they will be
her story.
oh, oh yes
I was speaking of the ladybug.
But perhaps you know
what I a mean
when I say
I understand her.
Image via Raisa Zwart Photography
