POEMS FOR PARENTS

                                                        POEMS FOR PARENTS
                                                                 A Haiku Series

                                                             for Ben and Becky,
                                                who, by God's grace, turned out okay
                                                                  in spite of us.


NEWBORN

No wonder you cry:
Just being alive is
Sensory overload!




3 MONTHS

Another summons?
I can't!--until your softness
Touches me again.




6 MONTHS

Scientific mind:
You experiment with taste,
Sampling a dead fly.




9 MONTHS

Struggling with new skills--
crawling, walking, sky-diving--
Muscle frustration!




         ONE

Just a year ago
I couldn't imagine you
Would define my life.




               TWO

Where can you have gone?
Ssh! curled up asleep in
Grandma's turkey roaster!




          THREE (1)

You start nursery school;
I find myself along--
watching Sesame Street!


          THREE (2)

Sat through a sermon
On being free in Jesus?
Your eyes dance: "I'm f'wee!"




FOUR

My philosopher!
"How does it feel to be four?"
"Like chok'lit!"




             FIVE

Five fingers, five toes,
So many important things
come in five's.  Like you.




          SIX

Stormy, forgetful,
Body-obsessed. Hang in there:
First adolescence.




            SEVEN

Each lost tooth we cheer--
Aren't those the ones we couldn't
Wait to see come in?




            EIGHT

Here's where it begins--
Parent-child role reversal.
Now you read to me.




          NINE

Gum in the washer--
What was life like without kids?
I can't remember.




           TEN

You may be ready
For lipstick and strapless gowns--
Cool it 'til I am!




            ELEVEN

You can't wait, young man,
Outgrowing all your clothing,
to outgrow us, too!




          TWELVE

I thought I was through
With school. Out of my depth--and
Algebra to come?




      THIRTEEN

Son: Endless riddles
And shrillest whistle west of
The Mississippi!




       FOURTEEN

Lingering fragrance--
Spearmint gum and suntan oil:
Our 'tween-age daughter.




         FIFTEEN (1)

Someday you'll have girls
And I hope they're just like you!
Just retribution!




         FIFTEEN (2)

Someday you'll have girls
And I hope they're just like you--
My daughter, my friend!




             SIXTEEN

You dream your own dreams.
Sex can't explain the marvel--
Where did you come from?




          SEVENTEEN

Confident, eager--
You scare me! You think you know
How fragile life is.




          EIGHTEEN

Room clean? Homework done?
Trash out already? Is my
Job over--so soon?







Cover design by Kathryn Dickerson
(Poems previously published in Pebbles and The Christian Communicator, 1991.)