Morning Poem # 6

Posted on | October 23, 2009 | 6 Comments

Patience is

granular like sugar,
and every child hungers for it
the same way that tongues crave sweet,
darting out from parted lips,
darting like small boys into traffic
or towards sharp sticks, always used
with the poorest of judgment
(which is also how wars begin)

and if it had color, it would be milky
and soft, and quite the opposite of the vermilion rage
that springs with sudden heat and sting
like a rash along the slender, tender curve of a throat
provoked for the hundredth time
by the lollygagging, jelly-boned determination
to find exactly where the line is drawn;

and it is feeling the clean hard click of teeth meeting and words held
or shoving fists into pockets
or maybe after gripping a sticky palm
a little too hard,
it is to inhale again softly and notice the way the chickadees
have returned to the woods, and how the light is mellow
like honey in a jar

Category: Poems

Comments

6 Responses to “Morning Poem # 6”

  1. Megsie
    October 23rd, 2009 @ 7:16 pm

    Wow. That is exactly how it is. “…quite the opposite of the vermilion rage…provoked by the lollygagging, jelly-boned determination to find exactly where the line is drawn;” Wow.

    Here is mine:

    Rain
    drips
    softly from the sky,

    The air
    so cold
    arms wrap
    around well padded torsos

    Suddenly,
    Snow
    falling like meatballs,
    melting
    when they meet the Earth.

    The next
    look out the window,
    Rain
    drips
    softly,

    There is wonder,
    Was the Snow
    just a dream?

  2. Julie
    October 24th, 2009 @ 1:41 am

    Lovely poem, Christina. Your description of patience is so perfect. Do you read Catherine Newman’s blog (aka Dalai Mama)? I think you would like it. She writes a food blog now but it has lots of parenting wisdom in there, too. Here’s a link to a recent post that talks patience and kindness.

    http://family.go.com/blog/CatheriNewman

  3. Julie
    October 24th, 2009 @ 1:46 am

    Sorry…that didn’t work. This is the page I meant:

    http://family.go.com/parent-to-parent/blogs/catherine-newman-blog/the-soup-of-1000-vegetables-857551/

  4. Christina
    October 24th, 2009 @ 1:54 am

    Julie, I actually have Catherine Newman to thank for getting me started on blogging way back when she wrote for Baby Center… she’s a gem, for sure.

  5. steph tigert
    October 24th, 2009 @ 9:18 pm

    I adore your blog. and your poems.

  6. katie
    October 25th, 2009 @ 7:01 pm

    Perfect definition of patience when interacting with a young child. Feel like I have been there in those last few sentences.

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