Daughters – A Thread You Follow

Notes from Daughters

We should not miss the further complexity
of being a human being by pointing to
one flaw after another and dismissing any
innate goodness in our nature.  One bad apple
just tastes bad and should not be brought
to the banquet table.  Beware of those who tell 
others what to do because of the length 
of their list of rules.  Visit, instead, places of adventure
tucked away in valleys.  Sit behind a roadside
lemonade stand and sell a cup or two for a quarter.
And on days of sickness pull out those notes 
written by daughters in unsure handwriting 
filled with I love yous and You're the best daddy.

The Note

A daughter's note 
begins a journal from long ago
taped to the first page
saying I love you.

Time and seasons
allow such words 
to guide us into mystery
in a meaningful way.

Picture Exchange

A drawn rainbow
shimmers on the page,
orange, green and blue,
under a scribbled rain.

A snowman holds up 
its arms, wearing 
a black hat and purple 
scarf, smiling.

Pictures exchanged
by sisters, taped
to a page long ago,

Let’s Remake the World by Pedaling Faster

…after Gregory Orr

Let’s remake the world by pedaling faster
because the Dairy Queen can’t wait
at the end of our bicycle ride.
And the smiles speed brings
to the faces of my daughters
pulled along behind me
makes the circling madness
of my legs make sense.

Let’s “Go faster, Daddy!
so fast that our hair,
rushing behind us,
can’t catch us
and won’t get stuck
in the ice cream.”

Published: https://www.thewell.world/about/news/2020/04/08/mindful-poetry-virtual-gathering-2