Warning: Poetry Again

This Father's Day
By Carolyn Kay Armistead
June 15, 2014

I was his baby girl
The one he worried about
I faced a different world
Than the one in which he fought.

He pushed me
As much as he could,
To get out and see
To make a difference
In my world.

He never really told me
But I know he was proud
Of me, and my abilities
Of the life I chose to live
Not an easy one,
But the best one for me.

He left us much too soon.
An accident, and he was taken
The man I was sure had
Hung the moon.
The man whose passion for learning
Pushed me to study and read
And teach.

Mom gave me the folded flag
That had been on his coffin.
Because he was a vet.
No way she could know
How the sight of that flag
Could make my blood run cold.
Because every military wife
Dreads being given a flag to hold
When she'd much rather have
The man who served it with pride.

 Pop survived his service,
And thankfully,
So did my husband survive his.
I have a lot more than a flag
To remember Pop by.
Though still I miss him
As years go by
It gets easier to remember him
And smile
For all the good times he made sure
We had
For the love he gave his children
Will never, ever die.

Old Songs

By Carolyn Kay Armistead
June 15, 2014

Music and memory
So tied together
Melodies are haunting
Because they make you remember
Times and places
People you once knew
The way you used to be
And the things you used to do.
Some songs can make me feel
Like a teen again
Bring back those heady days
Of high school
Hanging out with my friends
So easily
With just a melody
A lyric
Remember...
Some songs bring back childhood
And watching my Mom
Try to dance
Around the house while she was cleaning
With Sinatra
Or Bing
Or the Big Bands
On the stereo.
Remember...
Old Abba songs
Bring back the magic
Of long talks
With Matthew
When we were both
So young and so in love.
Yes, I remember.
 Ah, such memories.
Such treasure
All to be found
In a song.



The Book Sorter Song
By C.K.Armistead 6/15/2014

Book comes in
Door comes down
For a while,
Nothing.
THEN
Down the belt,
Around the corner,
Into the bin
It belongs in.
Even before
It hits the bin
The next book
Has rolled in.
Starts its journey,
Finds its way,
And of course
Another
Is already waiting.
All goes well
Books moving along
As we try to keep up
Sorting onto carts
From the bins,
Listening to
The sorter's song.
Then,
It stops dead
Oh, dread.
The light
For some unknown reason
Is red.
We check, we reset,
We cross our fingers
And pray,
The computer restarts
The belts do their dance
And before long
Once again
We're humming along
Singing the sorter's song.



Elusive Words

C. K. Armistead
6/15/14

Barge around in my head
Keep me from thinking straight
Or sleeping
Or reading
Yet
Will NOT get out on the page.
You elude me.
Babbling on when I have no way
To catch you,
Put you on paper
Or on screen
Then disc
And thus keep you.
Somehow
You seek to avoid capture
As if fearing
Servitude
As if you wouldn't
 Still be words
With something to say
As if by getting you down
And in order
I wouldn't be giving you
A voice
A chance to be heard
Somewhere besides
The inside of my skull.
So please
Now that I am here
Where I can save you
Please,
Words?
Come out
And play.


All of these poems have been written this evening, over the course of an hour or two.  These are really just my way of stretching the writing muscles, of hoping to coax the words out.  I know they are not polished and completely finished.  They may never be.  But this is how poetry is sometimes.
Not very lyric, not always neat, not even always rhyming.  A lot like life.  A bit messy, but in its own way, beautiful.

A Few More Poems...

Promises, Promises
By C.K. Armistead
June 2014
(For Michael O., because he loved it so)

Early Spring is a lovely promise.
New shoots,
Young leaves,
Tender blooms.

But early Summer
Is a promise fulfilled
Thick, green grass,
Deep, dappled shade,
Beautiful blossoms.



Cloud Fleet
C.K. Armistead
June, 2014

 After their midnight Battle
Filled with cannons of thunder
And bomb bursts of lightening
With fusillades  of water
That drenched the thirsty land
 All day Nature's vast armada
Has sailed past
Giving teasing glimpses
Of ocean-blue sky
Between the great grey ships
Casting shadow patterns
On the sparkling land.
 Perhaps their majesty
We should heed
As a reminder this day
That we live perpetually
Beneath Nature's
Daunting sway.


Little Makeshift Girl
By C. K. Armistead
June 2014

Just a makeshift girl
Good enough to pass the time
Until you find
The one you really want.
Forlorn lonely girl
Knows she isn't really
In anybody's heart.
She tries not to mind
But when no one's around
The makeshift girl
Falls apart
Can't make do
With part-times and
Promises forever
With almost-love
And not-quite-right
She cries herself to sleep
Most nights.
But somewhere
There's a love
Just for her
Even though she doesn't know it.
Hang on, makeshift girl,
Don't blow it
He'll soon come 'round
And then you'll know it
You deserve a love
All your own.


Compton 90221

By C.K. Armistead
June, 2014

Once, it was a good place.
We had block parties
Lots of different colored faces
Having fun
Sharing food and laughter.
And then the others came.
The ones with guns and cruel hate
Drove all the smiling ones
Away.
Left our block, our whole town,
Seedy and weedy
And full of bullet holes
And the profound sorrow
Of lost Hope.



Healing
By C.K.Armistead
June 2014

 More than a year
Has come and gone
Since the storms
Chewed up our town.
Still, many empty lots
Many businesses gone
Lives still rebuilding.
Yet,
Many homes are rebuilt.
Many new people have
Come to live in this little city
With the great big heart.
New plans are in place
To keep us all safe
As can be
If Nature decides
Again to be nasty.
Folks are still
Quick to smile
Glad to see their neighbors
And I am so proud
To be part of this
Community.

Small Miracles
By C. K. Armistead
June, 2014
For Butch and Walt

I hold in the palm of my hand
A gateway to knowledge
All the knowledge
Held in common on this planet.
With it, I can interact with people
On the other side of the country,
Or the world, or even
In orbit around it.
This little gizmo
So common that we
Take it for granted now
Was unimaginable
When I was a child.
My Pop said
Machines like this were
"impossible."
Not so
Said men like my brothers
Who built smaller,
More powerful circuits
And smaller, smarter
Machines
Men who read Asimov
And Bradbury
And dared to dream
Dreams.
Thank you for dreaming
And waking to build.
 

Now Is The Summer Of Our Discontent

Now is the summer of our discontent
We end each workday aching and spent
The loud gales of noisy childhood
Pierce our eardrums, chill our blood
The endless parade of picture books
That need sorting and critical looks
To ensure no damage has been done
Them on their journey's run.

But also a summer of renewed hope
As yes, we struggle to cope
Though to find ourselves needed,
Our help and services pleaded,
Helping young ones make a new start
Does much to soften the heart.
And seeing a child excited to read
Makes us all very glad indeed.


Summer is our busy time at the library.  We are THE place for kids to go for activities, books, fun, movies, and a place to cool off and relax for a bit. 
It is a good and glorious thing that our library is so important to our community, especially to our children. They have a safe place to come to, a place to learn on their own, meet their friends, or just fool around on the Internet for a little while.
We are also a resource for the entire community.  We have business services, and all sorts of computer classes for adults, book clubs, teen activities, many community groups have meetings in our meeting rooms, we're the happening place in town. 
It's true all year, but especially hectic in Summer.  The kids set goals and read books, or are read to by their parents, and so we have a lot more traffic both of people and of books in and out of the building.  Also, we have many special programs during the summer, and on program days (like today was), things can be pretty loud for a library.  I made six new library cards today in my two hour desk shift, and replaced several lost ones.  Summer is also the time for lots of that.  Many fines were paid, and since this is Fine Forgiveness week, some people actually got NO FINES on their very overdue items.  (It's all good, we get our stuff back, and they save some money.  )

This summer I am finding myself discontented because I have been having trouble losing any more weight, and indeed I have gained a few pounds.  I have about 14 pounds left to my goal.  I find it harder to stick to my diet because I want to eat more sugar to have more energy.  I also find it harder to work out as much as I should some days because it is so HOT outside.  Today went better, but last year, it seemed easier, seemed like the weight came off faster and easier, too.  Maybe it's just because I'm older.  Harder to get the old metabolism going fast enough.  Who knows?  Whatever the reason, it's bumming me out.  And I STILL haven't made it to the Farmer's Market yet this year.  Must try to go this Thursday during my "dinner" break.  It is, most conveniently, right next door to the library, in the Community Center parking lot.

Here's to Summer, a time that actually means more work for me, but a time that also allows us to spend more time in our gardens, relaxing and watching the birds and squirrels and rabbits that come by to visit our yard.