Tuesday, April 14, 2015

Tuesday slice: I didn't intend to write...

I sit here tonight
trying to count
grains of sand
blades of grass
clusters of stars
All equally hard
to gather
to quantify
to order in a way
that is meaningful


Like the way that
she went to bed smiling
but didn't wake up
with the sun
Like the way that
my friend went to bed smiling
but got the call at school
Like the way that
(I'm guessing)
she bent over
first silently
and
then with a
cascading
gasp
big
enough
to drown
the
stack of years
she will spend
missing her mom


I sit here tonight
intending to think about
phonics instruction
and
small group instruction
and
assessment technology
All equally hard
to gather
to quantify
to order in a way
that is meaningful
because
right now
the
only
thing
that makes much sense
is
to
write

Write on,
b

6 comments:

  1. Oh, I felt that gasp, and felt you grasping at those grains of sand. Phonics--what do they mean, when posed side by side with mortality? Writing makes much more sense.

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  4. I love the repetition in both women going to bed smiling. It brings a sense of peace in the mother's passing and then contrasts to the anguish in the way your description of her daughter's reaction so intensely takes over her entire body. Our thoughts are with you and your friend tonight.

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  5. Your writing grabs my heart with a few simple words the air is sucked from my lungs. I am so sorry for your friend. Life changes in an instant.

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  6. Your piece so clearly took me back to when I got one of those calls.
    Beautifully written.

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Hi! I'd love to hear what you are thinking right now, so please take a sec and drop me a line. I'm so glad you stopped by today -- thanks a billion. :)