Thursday, July 26, 2007

because the world is so fast and so small

my friend sent me my new nursing necklace last week and olive simply loves it. included in the package was a zine or two she wrote. after everyone had gone to bed and i had some alone time i sat crossed legged on the living room floor hunched over the poems, loving them. one poem, not hers, was also thrown in there and it made me well up with tears. the next day my mom came over and i said i had read something that reminded me of her and i handed it to her. she looked up at me after reading it and she was crying.




because the world is so fast and so small
by kathleen paul-flanagan

i teach them lemonade
comes from lemons
rolled on the kitchen counter
to bring up the juice,
not from yellow powder
in a tiny barrel
sold on supermarket shelves

and about glittery, gold valentines
on paper doilies,
handmade and hand-delivered
and how to string popcorn
for the christmas tree

because the world is so fast
and so small
i pass on my love
of windy music in leaves,
the dribbling poetry in rain
and the beauty of total silence.

i pray they can turn in circles,
admiring the small miracles
of each day




ETA: last night david found a little bird that had fallen out of it's nest (it was too small to fly). i went outside to mail something today and it was barely breathing and so wet, cold and sad. i lingered near him, watching him breathe labored breaths, then cried a little as i walked on. sometimes nature makes me sad but i don't think it is our place to intervene.

6 comments:

tara said...

my son who ruins every batch of pancakes because of the shells in them - still thinks he's the cat's meow.

on mondays in preschool his teacher always writes in his notebook:
"had the best pancakes ever!"

that's a great poem! keep passing it on.

Sarah said...

sniff! beautiful... off to email it to my mother.

o + j said...

your story of the poor little bird made cry...so sad.

thanks for giving me those blog addresses.

whats a nursing necklace?

i showed my friend mara pics of olive and auggie and she said you two make the cutest babies!

Olive said...

a nursing necklace is something that olive can play with while she nurses. it helps keep her "on task" so to speak. an older brother provides lots of entertainment she doesn't want to miss apparently. :)

here is mine
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b347/raisingirl420/neck5.jpg

Anonymous said...

Love the poem.
As for the bird--I'm an intervener I'm afraid. For good or for ill, ever since I can remember, I just can't leave them if their mommy is nowhere to be found. My sister and I raised a baby robin that she had rescued from a cat, and I raised a baby mouring dove that was walking about in a busy street. Just til they can fly, then we open the window and off they go.

Olive said...

alia- what is involved in raising it?