Smile – Page 2

March 24, 2013March 24, 2013

New York Hamlet

Google Image/Grandma Moses in Eagle Bridge, NY

i am traveling the byways of
new york reaching deep
into antique shops and
2nd hand stores looking for
nothing in particular and

there by the side of the road
in a small new york hamlet
i see posted neatly out front
a sign “Homemade Preserves”
so i stop and park as i am

intrigued and so i walk
to the front door of a
well-appointed house knocking
so as not to disturb and
who should answer but you

i’ve read about your rising
fame and as newspapers tell it
you are ‘never too old’ to
try something new and you
certainly did as you’ve shown

i feel at ease as you smile
at me inviting me in for
biscuits and jam with tea
your eyes twinkling so as
though we’ve met before

and i so want to know why
you never painted before
when you were young..not
that eighty something is
not…and so you answer

without falter that there
never was time with children
to raise and a farm to run
and happiness comes from
where it comes and i see

now that your life’s been full
so when i leave, on that
my traveling day and see
images of all the surroundings,
it is like i’ve seen it all

before on the canvasses where
you captured them in the
snow and sun, the church and
the town, the farms where
people live and i see then

that it really is ‘never
too late’ to do something new
when there is time and yes,
‘happiness comes where it comes’
in the byways of a NY hamlet

Please do go to Wikipedia to read more about this famous artist American Artist whose folk art style of painting became known and loved around the world. She began painting when she was in her seventies. You can find the link at http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandma_Moses/

http://dversepoets.com/category/a-cup-of-coffee-with-a-famous-person/

December 12, 2012

Bell and Kettle

Altered Goggle Image

he rings the bell while
she sits and smiles
in her wheelchair

i drop the coins
into the kettle to
test my giving mettle

he rings the bell while
she sits and smiles
in her wheelchair

I normally do not give change this time of year to the Salvation Army as there are kettles and bell ringers in front of every store but on a cold rainy day a woman in a wheelchair, bundled and with a stocking cap on, caught my eye. She was in earnest about someone, anyone giving money to drop with a clanking noise at the bottom of the kettle. Everyone, including myself, hurried into the store to get out of the rain and although she was under a bit of store awning she wasn’t the least bit concerned about the weather. On the way out I broke my habit of not putting change in the kettle and this time did. She smiled and gave me a “Merry Christmas!” and what could be better than that.

November 12, 2012November 13, 2012

Images of Teddy Bears

Altered Image Desktop Wallpaper

fighting back the fears
of losing you always
illusive as giant spiders
crawling over me
on the attack..ATTACKING

talking to you calmly
joking about tomorrows
amidst sterile sheets
IV lines needle piercing
driP, drIP, DRIPPING

watching your eyes
close beneath the shining
BRIGHT hospital lights
you seem SO very small
but only to me

glancing as attendants
wheel people by their
surgery already done
time goes by the
clock ticK, tiCK, TICKING

purple hospital gown
images of teddy bears
my heart beating
against my rib cage
thump…THUMPING

you lay before me waiting
and…one minute here
…the next one gone
time mediates anxiety
’til i see you smile again

My daughter had a successful surgery to remove surgical clips left from a surgery some 14yrs ago now and is doing well. The doctor who did the surgery has since disappeared (you hear about this happening to people you don’t know) but my daughter is now happy that perhaps she can get on with life. These are the things that went through my mind before her surgery.

September 21, 2012September 22, 2012

Rolling Your Own

i saw him sitting there
leaning against a tree
spreading out tiny
squares of paper
with precision intensity

he opened a tiny bag a
tobacco smell WafTinG out
beginning gently laying
a straight line on
the paper thereabout

beyond him they stood in
a photo sepia toned
i watched him begin to rOLL
years marching by
he slowly rOLLed his own

a factory owner with
his worker’s stand
‘neath tinted photo sun
touting cigars a
few handle bar moustaches
some with Bowler hats on

walnut trees *dot* the
cobblestone streets in
Germantown, PA
“CIGAR MANUFACTURING”
advertisements
cigars on display

smells of leafy tobacco
PerMeaTe the air
penetrating the
worker’s clothes to
filter through their hair

greenish brown tobacco
leaves are neatly
placed just so then
layed upon still
moistened leaves
to be carefully rOLLed

my German uncle
Scottish grandfather own
the factories there
where workers sit
amidst tobacco leaves
staining hands and shirts

he finishes rolling at last
licking paper to press
closed the cigarette
with his thumb
he tamps the tobacco down
tamping it down fast

behind him the workers stand
watching him now
complete the task
smiles overcoming frowns
they are pleased i can see
he knows how to rOLL his own

I don’t have a lot of family history here in the States that I find interesting but having relatives who owned cigar factories in the early 1900’s is a bit unique. I remember seeing someone roll their own cigarette and remembered some old photos showing both my uncle’s and grandfather’s factories and began to think…maybe too much…but wanted to share. Both of these family members’ families did migrate here at some point to the US from Germany and Scotland. Lots of immigrants started their own businesses and they were no exception.

September 1, 2012

Babe in Arms

i drove the highway the
distance it takes to
arrive there past all
the strip malls

traffic lights stopping
red or not, giving way
to thoughts of her

carrying her in my arms
across the living room
“shush, shush, don’t you
cry” singing soft a

lullaby bouncing her
dancing as my eyes try
to close after

working the night shift
i had a bit of nap before
he dropped her off so
mom could work her job

all in a flash as i drive
the highway there
thinking of the past of
all the other years

i pull into the driveway
i wait for her to come
down the stairs and
when she does…

the tiny infant has a
bounce beneath her
step with holes
torn in her shorts

as the fashion is for
young and layered
tops and long dark
hair she tilts

her head and smiles
where a baby use to
cry in my arms

it is time to go out
shopping and spend
time for in all the years
that have come and
gone

she is still my sweet
babe in arms
my granddaughter grown
our bond remains
strong

April 30, 2012April 30, 2012

FALLS

a shower FALLS down
over her
much like being
captured beneath the
thundering FALLS

high on a mountain top
but hot enough to
sooth away the pain

a permanence that
permeates her body
after a day of
living life every
day of her life

she closes her eyes
letting water drops
run down her face
her hair in
rivulets

expanding awareness
but never giving
answers of a time
without pain and
she smiles

“but is sad to think
of people whose
lives are cut
short”

by disease, by the
bullet sent forth
from a soldier’s gun
of the gun on the
streets of an
inner city

lives created and
barely breathed by
tiny infants or
those without
lives

enclosed in a world
of mental illness
a life inside
their own mind
a prisoner

she sighs and breathes
deeply because
pain can be lived
with, can be part
of a life

tomorrow will come
again rain or shine
as she relishes
the quiet
letting the shower

wash away the pain
her spirit rising
beneath the
WATER’S FALL

March 9, 2012March 18, 2012

Part of My Heart and Soul

Why do I worry about you so
because you are part of
my heart and soul

your soft baby skin
your twinkling brown eyes
caused me to smile and
then to sigh

from the moment they laid
you in my arms I was
captivated by your charms Image by Anne Geddes

to know I was chosen to ride
with you on life’s journey
in all that you do now
a woman with children too

so why do I worry and
love you so because
you are part of my
heart and soul

June 28, 2011June 28, 2011

Beauty

                                She only saw blue veins worming through
                                liver spotted hands, joints knarled as
                                aged tree branches turning this way,
                                that way, unable to grasp unless with
                                pain that penetrated deep into sadness

                                We saw a heart overflowing with love,
                                heard laughter pealing like sacred bells
                                high in a church tower and knew a young
                                woman walked alongside her straight and
                                tall apart from her bent leg and cane

                               She thought if only time would slow and
                               beauty isn’t only skin deep because I
                               feel the years all the way through and I
                               really commiserate with the Ugly Duckling
                               longing to be that beautiful Swan

                               We thought how beautiful she is especially
                               when she smiles making us warm inside amid
                               gloomy days always sunny causing us to think
                               how wonderful to age with such grace and to
                               cause others to feel as beautiful as she

In memory of my grandmother, who no matter what, was young always.

May 1, 2011June 26, 2011

I Will Remember

Like fleeting images of photos that
dance before my eyes I remember
you, as yesterday’s warm sun against
my skin, I remember you and the
warmth rushes in and sadness too
all caressing me gently as you,
yes, I remember you

As the mirror portrays our likeness as
I peer into its’ glass the reflection is
you smiling bringing you close from the
past for a moment we look at each
other, just briefly I hear your laugh, I
ride the tide along with you in the
memories of my past

In the letters of words written, in the
birthday cards sealed with your kiss
that you sent every year I was blessed
that said what you could not and really
what it is that you meant to, of all the
hurt and good times, of the times I will
never forget

When I look in the face of my children,
the grandchildren too, their dance in this
life is your dance, the one that I always
knew and loved because it was yours and
you gave to all of us now for us to remind
us always and always to be mindful, yes
I will remember you