he can reach
the top of the table
under the crib
behind the piano
with ease
he grabs
a toolkit
a nail clipper
some cheerios
with tiny fingers
he finds
beads
rhinestones
plastic clips
in the shallow carpet
he’s just tall enough to choke.
Lisa Holcomb 10/27/04
WHEN I AM AN OLD WOMAN I SHALL WEAR PURPLE
With a red hat which doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I’m tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people’s gardens
And learn to spit
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
Jenny Joseph
Who doesn’t love this poem? But honestly, I started the “weird” life early on. Why wait til I’m old?
🙂
Image Poem entitled “Jelena”
Lisa Holcomb 2013
My eldest son was doing a poetry project for school, so I did it alongside him. One of the prompts was to write a poem inside a picture of how the poem made you feel. It was interesting to do. Mine was depressing.
If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain;
If I can ease one life the aching,
Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin
Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
-Emily Dickinson
About 11 years ago, when we first moved to Tyler, I was invited several wonderful places to get plugged in to the local community. One of them was Bible Study Fellowship (hereafter known as BSF). I went to a couple meetings towards the end of their year, met some lovely people, but ultimately decided to join the Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPs) group at the church I actually attended (BSF meets at another church across town), which also on Wednesday mornings.
Fast forward 11 or so years and here I am again at the end of a study, joining into a new-to-me group. But this time it’s better. Well, not BSF. BSF has always been good. I’M better now. I’ve had 11 years to find my way through life, make friends, lose friends, finally get some sleep, and to find out what’s important to me and what is not.
I went to my first real meeting this morning (last week I attended a one-on-one welcome session with the lovely lady that had been my HR director at a former job, oddly enough). It was such a good morning. I’d finished all my personal Bible study during the week and was prepared for conversation. I made my way to my classroom and found a group of women that I found delightful. It was such a nice mix of women willing to speak out and ask the kind of questions that might intimidate others (either with their incisiveness or with their apparent lack of knowledge) and women that were quiet until a specific thing they felt passionate enough about to warrant speaking and still others who, like me, just had what seemed to be the most simple of answers.
I am so glad that I stepped out of my comfort zone and made my way to this group. I think it’s going to be a very good thing in my life. 🙂
It’s National Poetry Month…and therefore I must share poetry. Some days I’ll share my own and some days I’ll share famous works and others I’ll share works of lesser fame. Who knows what the day will bring?
Today, because it’s on my mind, a poem about adoption (I’m an adoptee and a friend called tonight to ask about my experience): (click on the image to enbiggen)
Honestly, I’ve been carrying this candle around room to room with me because it is helping me breathe. Go to Essentiallynaked.com and get the Rosemary Mint or Woodland candle. They are both wonderful! (And I don’t know which one I’ve been carrying around because I took both lids off at once and the kids moved them.)
The phrase of the day is “oddly good.” I used it in reference to a weird apple fritter donut, but my family has taken it up as their own. So MANY things can be oddly good.
We are having a fancy dinner tonight! All sushi, all the time. And cocktails. Because it’s not a date without cocktails. Well, not an evening date without cocktails in any case.
We ordered WAY too much food for ourselves for one night, but sushi does not do well sitting in the car, even in this coolness, for the length of a movie, so we had to leave it behind. Woe. But then there was The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and we were all happy again.
“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” –Maya Angelou
Lisa Holcomb 