My Son Registers for Selective Service

There should be a form for mothers, too

So I can explain

I didn't bring him into this world

To go away and kill other mothers' sons

And daughters

And fathers

And sisters

And brothers

And though my claim on him

Shrinks each day

He is not yours

He was not made for this

The new life that danced in my womb

Is the same one filling out your form

And you can't have him

More Obama Odes

The AP has sponsored this and selected 10 American poets to write poems inspired by the new president. I particularly like the ones from Julia Alvarez, David Lehman, Gary Soto, and Alice Walker. Enjoy!

http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/campaign_plus/obama_poets/

Caught Looking

You ask me why I’m staring.
What am I to say?
That I was searching the squareness of your jaw
For the softness of my baby’s face?
That at times your silhouette startles me
And cuts my breathing into ribbons?
That in my dreams I still hold you
And smell the newness of your downy head?
That your shoulders seem impossible to me?
That when you stride your long limbs across the room
I long for your wobbly, chubby legs?
Should I even try to tell you
That for a mother
There is no embracing without pulling
No rejoicing without grieving?
That to look at you now is to know
That your birth was the beginning
Of your leaving?

Poems for the first 100 days

Here is a nifty blog I found. Each day of Obama's first 100 days, a well-known poet posts a poem about him and/or his new administration on this blog. Enjoy!

http://www.100dayspoems.blogspot.com/

Aaaarrrgh! Frustrated Catholics Unite

Are you kidding me?...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/world/europe/25pope.html

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iadWj6AbGb7whmCtQ5SLwBtCRTkg

http://madamearcati.blogspot.com/2009/01/pope-reinstates-holocaust-denier-bishop.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/24/bishop-richard-williamson_n_160598.html


The vatican does not make it easy for me to hang in there with the church. I am an Irish Catholic. I don't want to be anything else, but my church is not one that encourages suggestions from its people. The pope is not taking my calls! But I will use my little blog from time to time to scream at Rome when I see fit. I just hope Rome doesn't blacklist me. Tee-hee

Fresh air

Yesterday the air changed
As we stood shoulders touching
At the edge of a clearing
Not to hold our breath
But to finally let it out
And find some relief
For years our air has been too thin
So we gulped it in greedily
And left our sisters to their shallow gasping
We belched out our anger
Like a cannon ball across the skies
And left our brothers to wheeze in our smoke
But a crisp breeze broke through
And unlocked our jaws
And unclenched our teeth
Bent our grim lips into smiles
Softened our elbows into embraces
Opened wide our squint eyes
So we could see once more
A path to a country
Where we can breathe deeply
And make room for others
Without fear of losing
What we think to be ours

Liam, my nephew whom I adore, is turning four!

Today is my favorite nephew's birthday. He always makes me smile, and today he makes me want to rhyme! I am not at all good at regular rhythm and rhyme, but all of the love in the poem still works! Happy Birthday, Liam. You are the coolest four-year-old on the planet. Don't worry: this poem is not your only present. There is a real gift for you to open on its way to you!

You don’t remember
But on your very first birthday
I watched you being born
First there was no Liam
And then there was
And right away
I fell in love
with nephew love...

I knew I would love you
But I didn’t know
That my brother’s boy
Would tug at me so
You bring with you
Good times and great fun
Hugs end in a tackle
And start out with a run.

I love the glint
In your impish eyes
The way your brown sparkles
When I give you a surprise
I love how you growl
The word pancakes with passion
And dance on the couch
With your parents gone and me there laughing.

You wore your Angels hat

To the airport to meet me
You said your favorite team
When you reached up to greet me
And I loved when you settled
Your sweaty curly head
And used my happy shoulder

Instead of a bed.

And now you have come
To the new age of four
A talented dancer
With a wild thing roar
When you swing your big bat
With your baseball mitt hands
You should know
That Aunt Erin
Is your biggest fan!