How can I possibly keep up?

Tonight I made her wash her hands
because her nails were inky.
She shrieked at the lovely tepid water
Why would you hurt your child???
Your OWN CHILD, Mama???
and when I started giggling
she got indignant and asked why and I said
“Ohhh, you know why,”
and she laid her head against my leg and said,
Maybe normally I might know, but it’s bedtime
and my mind is asleep, Mommy.
But then she snapped her head up to add,
But not too asleep for stories.

Pink gifts

She brushed me with
the sweetest petals of motherhood
today.
Her arms flung around my neck,
kisses were stamped on my cheek,
and she crowed:
Mommy, I love you so much
I don’t even have the word,
even more than you can imagine!
It’s mutual.
As were the damp starry eyelashes.

womankind, big and small

Wild woman,
wistful wishes
willful winds,
winsome wisps,
worry, worship, won’t.
We had them all today.

Humble monkey

Today my girl said to me,
with absolutely no malice,
Mommy, you’re really just
not very good at crafts, hunh?
Certainly the flippers for the monkey
were a challenge.

The princess and the pea

Nothing would please.
Holes in the tights.
Braids too tight.
We forgot her snack.
But worst of all:
Mommmmm!!!! Listen to me!!!
I’m too dehygerated, I just
CAN’T STAND IT, Mom!
I concentrated on keeping my breathing
slow and steady.
Things were quiet for a minute. Then,
Mom?
What’s dehygerated?

These days go on forever.

As the sun streams in, I try to put
my girl to bed.
Outside, people in yellow socks
are running around looking for beer.
I don’t mean that metaphorically;
they are actually
running, and they are searching for beer,
and when they find it, they will drink it.
Loudly.
I would honestly rather be right here,
reading Berenstein Bears and
Kureyon No Kurokun.
Which is nice to know, since this
is where I am.

Shifting

All this world swirling around us–
brush it with the
lightest of fingers.
Send it swinging into
a new dance.

Hurray for beauty everywhere

I resurrected an old dinnertime ritual,
and no one protested.
Hurray!!
Hurray for picnics in the park! I started.
She leaped in joyfully:
Hurray for a pretty couch!
Hurray for a blackboard!
Hurray for a chair I never sat on til today!
Hurray for a craft table!
Hurray for scissors! For enchiladas! For pears!
Hurray for– for– for us!
It’s hard to top that.
But I would add, hurray for beauty
even in
the humblest of crannies.

Crying into my peonies

There is so much sorrow and joy
packed into every day
that I find myself weeping
walking across the room
or picking up my daughter–
just a few silent gasps
over her shoulder.
And sometimes we sit and cry together
and talk about our feelings
until she rolls her eyes
and is done
and too,
we laugh and laugh and
every day
new petals are revealed.

The wrath of the internet gods

Last night I tangled with the internet gods,
and they won.
Specifically, they kicked my ass
all around the ether.
Luckily, I have a superhero
living under my roof.

Photo credit: AJK