J - Jabberings of a normal Mom

Days have gone by

with no words to another

that stands over 4 ft tall

she lives in a world of

two year old vocab and

hours of legos and dolls.

An errand offers her a change

a chance to exchange

normality with other adults

even thou days can often mean

adult lingo has slipped away fast

words have left the room and panic

releases mouthfuls of jabbering

on everything under the moon.

The store clerk hands her the receipt

half-smiling, exhausted, he says,

 “Have a nice day!”

© River 4/11

A- Attitude Adjustment

a highly contagious virus

runs rampant through schools

striking adolescents

infecting their mouths

and rolling their eyes

cringing adults

shake their heads why

spitting out no….

forgetting their time

adjusting attitudes.

River 4/1

- Phases of Dialog-

As parents we watch

our children migrate through stages

cracking the shells of reason

losing their fluff of innocence

spreading their wings of sass.

We have bounds of patience

balanced with hair pulling tweaks

moments of calgon take me away.

We answer questions of why

why grass is green and stars twinkle

why cats have scratchy tongues.

Our children pass through doors

on the edge of boundary lines

testing our limits and facing

emotional complexity of self and

social hurdles of elementary survival.

We listen to their daily happenings

who’s not their BFF that week

what girl likes which boy now.

We patch fallen skies

ground sassy mouths

play ball until the sun goes down.

Watching our child grow bigger

we surprisingly miss the inquisitive

the annoying why of years past.

Our eyes open to the child of now

triggering sparks of awareness

we promise to listen more intently

not ready for a new phase of dialog

not ready for our child to fly.

© River Urke

The Line from Hell

We are all familiar with the game of waiting.

Waiting in line at the grocery store,

fifth in line outside the ice cream shop.

Waiting for your turn to check out, to grab

the lunch you ordered to go. I thought

it was all the same with the waiting game

then I came across the parent line.

A line like no other line,

A line from Hell.

Parked cars running,

on a track destined forward

rising behind a long narrow snake 

tediously waiting to move.

One person per car sits

on the phone,

reading mail,

staring off

waiting.

Time slowly ticks by

Five minutes

Ten

Finally movement, but…no

Moving along like trained mice

in slow mo.

bumper to bumper crawling

Stop and Go!

a true test of patience

a test to authenticate parents

before the front of the line.

A line where there is an end

coming around the bend

Marked by a child playing

the waiting game….  

River 10/10

* Posted for One Shot Wednesday  week 15
There is lots of good poetry to read~ check it out  :)