Tag: birth

Stork

Do you remember being born
We sat down at the table
I explained this doesn’t have to be
Your real life you can make it up
Recalling our teenage years
What was it that got you here
That made it worth while?

Everyone was writing down their
Answers and I stood up from my chair
I walked into the backyard to notice
Someone had cut away at our
Cherry blossom tree and then
It sunk in how little control
We have over people making
Choices for us even if we set
Boundaries and make it clear
This is our garden
Grandma said that was respect

I went to find my cousin
Who was smoking a cigarette
At the kitchen table
Stripped down with nothing left
I started to do the dishes
Maybe a cup of coffee
Would be nice after all

Looking through family albums
Telling the stories of the most
Important people that had touched
Our lives and the worlds people
Had built for themselves
Having multiple children
I waited for her to come back
I knew she would
She had left her cigarettes here

I decided to have one and
Go outside to find her
The grass was tall and the weeding
Season had begun
I heard her call out-
Just start anywhere and grab a patch!
I set my coffee down and
Began to pull

Tears in my eyes
I remember the folks
I love that brought me here
I don’t know where they are now
But I made a book of photos
To share their memories with
As I began to pull

© GÄ

Choice

Grab a random hat
On your way out the door
Can we be happy in the momentary
Bliss of anythingness

Untreasured acceptance of
Being someone’s number one
Proud to be there for them
And one day wake up startlingly
To their absence without any
Why for explanation; gone

Choices were made for you
Who we become is exactly that
Even before we are exiting the womb
Of transitive existence
Thoughts on who you are to become
What great things you will do
Born into the disability
To disappoint the expectations
Of the choices designed for you

As he contemplated the coldness
Of it all there was more than
An empty reminder beating
At the core of his agenda

This is your opportunity to jump
This is how you choose
Not for someone else
But for you

A tale told of folks long ago
Saying,
‘You can choose the life you want.’
In many ways we do
And in many ways he did
Of the available options
To his character

Where was the warning?
That there will be many opposing forces
When will the playbook arrive
Condoning the unrelenting
Unrequested actions happening
Upon us as we eschew them into
Gifts for our benefit
Twisting scripts

One mentor said,
‘You will have everything you need,
to get through the life you will lead.’
And believing he was capable
He made the choice to believe

Another guide said,
‘It’s going to be really good.’
And in his head that was enough
To look forward to
To get him out of bed

Again choices would be made
And how frigid could we all stand it
How many nicks at our chins
Could we take
How many knocks at the door
Till we break
How many smiles would be left
For us to fake

Is there a number for that?

As the light dressed the day
And the night went to sleep
He stood up from his slumber
Of counting tie dyed sheep
In the movie theater of his mind
And chose to breathe again
Another day involuntarily

Contemplating the fantasy
Of the life he’d one day leave
To begin the choice of such a life
He’d yet conceived

© GÄ