An Incomplete List of Loves

Mom, daughter, me, daughter, 1993

These I have loved...

My mother’s very slight country-twanged voice;

My father pestering me to read Joyce;

Creating Spirograph patterns for hours;

The blissfulness of steamy hot showers;

Playing Battleship and Clue with my friends

And Pink Panther cartoons on the weekends.

Visiting the zoo to check out the snakes;
New pink erasers waiting for mistakes;

Frosting a cake with swirls of buttercream;

Discovering Bobby’s death was a dream;

Romance novels full of intrigue and spice;

Sushi made with avocado and rice;

Apple and cinnamon scents of the fall;

James Bond adventures that held me in thrall;

Warm fluffy towels straight out of the dryer;

Melted marshmallows crisp-blackened in fire;

Soft little mews waking me from a nap;

Kitties who purr while curled up in my lap;

Wriggling my toes in a new pair of boots;

Countertop bowl full of fresh summer fruits:

Peaches and mangoes and cherries galore;

And sunbeams gleaming upon a wood floor.

Knickknacks set at right angles so neatly;

(Secrets stashed in my posts quite discreetly);

Nixing my past from the Wayback Machine;

Keeping my conscience and kitchen pristine;

My OCD may take weird contortions —

Counting spaghetti, measuring portions.

My grandmother did, so what can I say?

I love that I get to blame DNA.

More than these I love my daughters and grands,

While sadly aware of decreasing sands.

All these have been my loves.

~*~

Written for dVerse Poets Pub. The inspirational poem is “The Great Lover” by Rupert Brooks, which was written in rhyming couplets, so that’s how I wrote mine (except for the required first and last lines), even though I know that rhyming is out of style.