Poetry

Poetry doesn't come easy for me - even reading and making sense of it can be a challenge for me.  And I never try to write it.  Trying to write poetry gives me a headache, and I get enough of those without trying! 

However, once in a while, usually completely out of the blue, something will come to me and if I don't write it, I will be haunted by poem fragments bouncing around in my brain until I do something productive with it!  I have tried ignoring it before, to avoid the "trying to write poetry headache" and it doesn't work, the haunting continues day in and day out until I write something.  

Today was one of those days when poetry invaded my little brain and would not leave me alone.  Of course, it happened while I was in the middle of finger paint with my group of toddlers at work AND trying to keep them from throwing toys across the room (yeah, bet you wish you had my job!).  So, between cleaning paint off fingers and the table AND trying to convince them that lego are more for building with than throwing at each other, I grabbed a scrap of green construction paper and scribbled a few things and shoved it in my back pocket before pulling one of my kids off the table before he could stand on it and probably jump off.

Sometimes I write a poem that I am happy with other times, I write garbage.  The ones I am happy with get written in a little notebook tucked beside my bed, never to be shown to anyone.  And the garbage, well, do I really have to tell you that I put garbage in the garbage?

Tonight, I took my scribbles and turned them into something that I call poetry.  (You may or may not agree, and I won't be insulted if you laugh at me!  Like I said, once these thoughts are in my head, I HAVE to write them.)  

They don't listen, 

They run around like wild animals,

Toys are throw,

Paint covers everything,

Patience is wearing very thin,

I want to yell.

I want to scream.

I want to run away.

But I stay,

I take a deep breath.

Remind myself,

They need to learn,

They need to be taught.

I need to show them,

Guide them,

 Teach them.

****************************

Quiet

Suddenly, the quiet settles in,

For a brief moment, 

I quickly search,

For any sign of my sanity,

Grasping for it,

Before it is gone again.

As suddenly as it came,

The quiet is gone again,

Smothered by the chaos.