Donner's "How do you run away from the things in your head?" Thread

[Donner]

Goffe and Jee - Thank you! Angst and adventure are my bywords.

* * * * *

Office Depot

There is no one in line for the register
when I'm ready to check out,
but instead of bypassing the shelves
and arrows and lane markers
meant to corral customers
and going straight up to the cashier
I push my cart through the intended pathway.
I don't want to get glared at,
let alone told to go back
to the end of the line and wait my turn
as civility requires. Perhaps
she'd applaud my rule-breaking shortcut,
or perhaps she'd look me up and down,
calculate the calories I'd burn
by taking the longer way to the counter
or why did she even bother with a cart
for two reams of paper and some tape,
bet she leaves it in the middle of the aisle
or out on the sidewalk where I'll have to retrieve it
during my break or maybe the security cameras
would catch my act of disobedience
on tape and the cops would be waiting for me
when I run for my car. Rather than risk
my rewards points, I obey.

And a Bonus Poem!

American Sentence #5

The blower dispatches teens smoking behind the church along with leaves.

[Donner]

Hand-me-downs

Mom ruled with thriftiness; well-worn coveralls,
dresses and the starter violin were passed down
from my oldest sister to the me, all
but the most prized dolls, shoes, and jackets
beyond patching were community property.
Flip through snapshots and there I am,
wearing that blouse she had worn
at my age; flip a few years further
and there's baby sis in it, too.
Dad may have secretly hoped for that son
that anchors the family name, knowing all those petticoats
and Easter hats mom stowed away for #3 could be passed down
to the Clarks' new daughter next door
should his genes prevail, but I proved
that jeans and tees are suited equally these days
for both grandsons and granddaughters. So, too, it seems
with my hand-me-down cat left behind with a couch
and lamp in their driveway when the neighbors moved.
Photos of him are now posted to my Facebook page
instead. I wonder if he ever wonders why
there are unfamiliar people living where he used to
prowl or misses his food bowl that no longer is filled
on their patio until he lays purring in my lap,
handed down from the previous owner
who used to groom her paws there.

[larryrap]

Hi Donner,


I often think about a comment you offered me a year ago (or was it two) that you enjoy my personal poems much more than those speaking for some abstract "us". And how this defines not only where my poetry tries to go (key word "tries") but where yours exists and thrives: in the personal, the genuine, the reachable and teachable. Distinctly feminine features to me (you may insert feminist protest here), praiseworthy for their down-to-earth wisdom and honesty, but also comforting and nourishing to those less blessed with those qualities. So thanks for being a such a bulwark of sanity and warmth in your poems, and for your friendly presence in general for these last, no longer few, years.

[Donner]

Larry,

No feminist protest from me. That touched me, thank you.

Donner