the anniversary
of forgetting
i have a memory of you
in a gilded glass globe
soft baby curls glinting
and denim legs running
in a pinwheel
of red blue and yellow
spinning out
from the color-blocked
tiny
chuck taylors
i tied to your feet
every morning
you were so fast
and i was so busy
the years told me lies
and i looked away
as you grew
into life’s
perfect stranger
the other day
you asked me
to help
shave your head
it was not a surprise
i have done it before
and you always clean
your own messes
but what i saw drop
to the cold tiled floor
was not simply a month’s
worth of stubble
at your feet
was a clock
made from curls
and lost wheels
marking time
with an amateur’s
ticking
you swept it up
and i went to bed
i think that i dreamt
of cracked mirrors
.
A poem a day for 30 days, in honor of National Poetry Month.
This post is part of NaPoWriMo.
Also joining in with PAD (poem a day) over at Writer’s Digest.
.
April 30th, 2014 at 9:00 am
Your poetry is amazing~
April 30th, 2014 at 9:31 am
Time should be its own emotion . . . great write.
April 30th, 2014 at 1:02 pm
oh heck kelly…i think that is my fav by you ever… i can FEEL it with every fibre of my heart… they grow up way too quickly.. a heart-gripping write..
April 30th, 2014 at 2:53 pm
Terribly moving, Kelly–I know it’s a bit of a cliche to say that, but best describes my reaction, which was personal and heartfelt. The years do tell us lies–they still do, maybe more so, now when they pass even faster, when a week becomes a month overnight–the last lines especially here are so real–everything one can say about parenthood boiled down to eight words.
April 30th, 2014 at 6:58 pm
This made me sad..beautiful
April 30th, 2014 at 7:04 pm
hey you made it…smiles
the shaving of the head and the comparison to the clock…oh how time seems to go faster and faster the older i get….
May 3rd, 2014 at 3:12 am
Kelly, thanks so much for visiting and encouragement this past month. You write so beautifully – and you completed the month with this superb pen. We made it, indeed 🙂 ~ M