To dance with my father again

If I could get another chance 

What I learned from a soldier

What I learned from a soldier… About strength It’s okay to cry… About caring Take your vitamins… Stay away from dark alleys… Watch your back… I love you… About illness I’m so sorry you’re sick… I’m very concerned… Have you been eating right? Taking your vitamins? 

Tightrope Walkers

tight·rope (tītʹrōp´) noun 1. A tightly stretched rope, usually of wire, on which acrobats perform high above the ground. 2. An extremely precarious course or situation.  “I am always at the beginning,” said The Buddha, on being asked what life was like. Hello 2015. Here we are: at the beginning again. Accidental acrobats. On this tightrope twined…

Reggie, my heart therapy

He sees me June 27, 2014. He loves a freshly cut lawn. He does a down-dog-stretch before squeezing through the rectangular flap of a door. Outside. Sniffing a path, he finds a patch of sun and flops onto his side. Lying still for a minute, he soaks up the warmth then rolls onto his stomach.…

Poem #29: “Deaf”

By Sam K. (age 9)

Some people say noise hurts their head
Some people say they wish they were dead
all because it’s oh so loud
but I am absolutely wowed
for I cannot hear a thing
not a single jingle or a ring
I cannot think of the
cause of it
maybe because I am
deaf

Poem #25: “Child”

Willower’s child
Unopened gift
Strong and silent  

Poem #20: “Zoo”

Image Source: © 2013 TouTouke (Agnes Scholiers), http://www.rgbstock.com/user/TouTouke

Zookeeper’s fingers, relaxed

Splayed

Leafy chameleon, sticky toes

Stayed

Don’t be loud, touch

Gently

Note his eyes, orbit

Independently

Scaly thing, never misses

A fly

Spellbound children, eyes

Up high

On the mini-dinosaur’s

Gripping tail

In and around knotty branches

Going pale

 

We touched a snake, a chinchilla

Even a skink

But not the wolf spider—No way!

What do you think?

 

We washed off our hands and waited

In line

Ate our brown bag lunch in a sea

Of pine

The big yellow birds were waiting

Nearby

Line up now children, let’s all say

Goodbye

The shadows beside me

  While we (bereaved parents) are readjusting to our perception of what grief is, and who we are as we grieve, and how our relationship with our deceased child will be, grief changes and evolves, subsides and resurfaces.