Category Archives: Parents & Children

Your teenage language, a dialect
made entirely of grunts and silence
Opened.
On stage,you played this new language
of old songs and guitar chords,
carved from nothing but talent
and your lazy will, harnessed.

The dinner crowd—
couples and old ladies and little kids
giddy with holiday shopping
understood you
Perfectly.

Tomorrow, snow in the forecast

but today, weather’s relaxed and setting records.

The last time November felt this gentle

was the year you were born.

We took off the heavy baby clothes

that I’d just figured out how to put on

and took the stroller out for hours.

You’d gasp and laugh when you caught

the soft breeze in your upturned mouth.

I’d wheel you, walking behind,

sun warming our cool autumn faces,

me steering while you practiced

how to face into the wind.