Monday, January 16, 2017

so many elbows



Where I’m From
           a poem by Vicki Patschke

I’m from family 
A family of eight
Or eight times eight 
When you counted the heads
Of friends and visitors
And always the pets —
Dogs, cats, rabbits, 
guinea pig, hamster, mice
parakeets, turtles, snails
and one bow-legged duck

Our family of eight
Squeezed into cars
And crowded trains
Shoulder to shoulder
Elbow to elbow
Heart to heart

At happy crowded tables
We passed the potatoes
Helped with homework 
And dealt the cards

Instant friends
Instant foes 
Always racing
To finish first 
To claim the sofa
To claim the last bite

Always sharing 
Hand-me-downs
of used clothes 
of thumb-smeared books
of opinions and advice

Our family of eight
Now grown and scattered
With empty spaces between us
Separated by gaps
of time and place
of experiences
of philosophy

But wherever we turn
We will always be
From our family of eight
Shoulder to shoulder
Elbow to elbow
Heart to heart



4 comments:

  1. What a great poem!
    And the etegamy of course !

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great words! My family is smaller 2+4 but do experience things like described in the poem.I love how in your etegami you showed what the words say!!!!!

    ReplyDelete