Month: February 2018

Ukulele

There’s a comfort
In knowing I know more than
My Dog Has Fleas
Plucked across the strings

It may seem strange
That I spend some time
At lunch softly tugging the strings
Of something other than someone else’s heart

But it’s all connected–
The writing the playing
And my singing
The last of me you don’t know about

Instead of trying to play a song
The way someone else wanted it done
I honor their work by playing it closely
And try to complement it with my own voice–

But you won’t catch me
Singing something
Along my ukulele in my cubicle

Maybe in a gathering of friends
But I haven’t done that in a long time

That feeling

It’s seeing you smile
Regardless of the reason
Hearing you laugh
When no else is looking
Listening when you speak
Though you never felt like talking until now
Telling you what I’m thinking
Because you finally asked

It’s when you tease me
To break the scowl on my face
Or reel me in
When I’m all over the place
It’s when you pass me notes
To let me know you’re still around
It’s when you distract me
Because you didn’t want that line to rhyme

It’s when your words carry me
The way a lioness carries her cub
It’s when your actions get my attention
Like a bear catching a jumping fish
It’s when you make me feel more than real
I’m a dolphin ramming a shark in the gills

I’ve felt this feeling before
It makes me hopeful
And I am scared

Whimsical #5

After walking
a couple blocks
through a snowstorm,
climbing several flights of stairs
because the elevator is broken
then realizing
your car is either one or two more floors up…
Once you find your car,
you think the keys are in your pocket
but they’re really buried
in your backpack’s special compartment.
After squeezing yourself like a sardine
into the driver’s seat
because the cars on both sides
parked too close to your doors,
you have to make sure you’re
strapped in because you
already got a ticket for not
wearing your seatbelt.
When you’re actually rolling,
it’s caravan style behind the
cautious driver
who turns too slowly
and brakes too quickly.
Just as you’re about to
exit the garage
the parking pass doesn’t
let you out because you
seriously left that at your desk
and picked up a business card instead.
And the lot attendant isn’t there.
And there’s a line of cars right behind you–

Yeah, it’s that feeling.

Radar array

And you saw how sad I was
Glancing at empty bedrooms
Of kids who already moved away
So you held my hand and said–

Let’s get a dog named Doppler
Dress up your truck with a radar array
Go to weather school during the day
So we can chase storms together

Get associate degrees in meteorology
Learn about the Enhanced-Fujita scale
Get lost in the plains looking for hail
And cumulonimbus as far as the eye can see

Spend our time frequenting truck stops
As we scope out all the best spots
To witness a lowering from the clouds
Traveling the state as much as the gas tank allows

After sending our pictures to the weather guy
We’ll stop for pulled pork and pie
Looking at the sunset in the sky
Like we did before our kids were born