hypocrisy thy hair is long and tasty

My hair is not quite as long as my daughter's

But it is long enough to suck on

In the same way as she does

The same way that angers me when I see it and

Causes me to say something

Every single time

So 

Does the fact that I do

But don't also let the bunny and guionea pig chew on it

Make me

Unremarkable

Normal

Hypocritical or

Just another parent

seven minutes on the couch

Ten twenty eight and
Three of us are on the couch
A pile of toys and
A paperback copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
No one is reading or
Playing with ttansformers and
Only one of us is sleeping
Back paws resting against my hip
Front paws folded
One over the other
As if in prayer
Although rather sloppily so
Chest rising and falling rhytcally
Whiskers still
As oblivious to the sound of key strikes all around her as she is to
The fact that
Her head is resting on Grimlock's shield and
The fact that
It is ten thirty five

Indian Summer

The truth is 

That I'd rather carry

A nine year old with tired legs

Then look out of my window and

See snow falling in spring but

The truth is

Sometimes too heavy to bear

Spring in Ann Arbor

spring in Ann Arbor

is somthing like living in 

a used cotton ball

Living The Dream

His eye is pink

So logically

He has an ear infection

Want to live in a Picasso

Be a parent

Of Orange Cones and Education

It's as if

Some time ago

A band of giant gnomes

Came to elementary school and

Had so much fun

Running about on school grounds

That when they left

Arm in arm

Singing giant gnome songs

They left their hats behind

A fortuitous accident

For all of us

Growing Up

When my six year old
Runs into the room
Yelling
"Where is daddy
I need to cuddle"
I wonder
Whether
Up is really
The right direction for growth

Parenthood

Parebthood ...
Hugs and kisses and
Scraps eaten off of their plates
Even while
For the fourth or
Tenth
Week in a row
Their classmates  are succombing
To vomiting
Like
A tired mom or dad
To
A vaguely reasonabble request at eight thirty at night

Child

Careful
Here
In case every word and action reaaly does matter
Like those who never
Do are fond of saying

Parent

Parsed into a million moments
Answering to almost as many names yet
Rendered mute
Entering the next one knowing
Nothing except that humility
Ties no ones hands

Always tell the truth to your children

I need your hand

Not your sleeve

I say to him

As we cros the street

Knowing

That 

It is the absolute truth

Seasonal Change

Slight breeze
Playing through the branches
Right above my head
It's coming
Going too

spring stains

like peanut butter
mud comes off in the washer
so don't stay inside

Acceptance

Your daughter accepts the book
You ran upstairs to grab for her
You have the choice of accepting
The painful scratch
Her nails have just bestowed upon you or
Going after what lurks in the bushes behind door two
Knowing that
Acceptance never gets any easier
For you or
Your daughter

the limits of a warm late winter day

Today
I thought of flowers and
Green grass
Of lazy beach days and
Cool nighttime hikes of
Sunscreen and
Iced tea
But I don't drink iced tea and
I am still wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt so
So
I guess it's true what
They say
Dreaming
Only gets you so far

there is snow and then ...

fifty degrees and over

for almost a week and snow

still rims the sidewalks

waiting

In line to pick up the kids from school
Crouched in between cars
Examining two golf bags up on stands
Straps out
Hanging free
Untangled
Clubs covered
In case those clouds prove to be more dangerous than they look
Pants sagging
In case
Those of us behind him
Run out of things to do
In line
Waiting to pick up our kids from school

Questioning The Past

I wonder
Whether
When Native Americans made
Corn meal cookies with their daughters
For elementary school trading post activities
They used
The dough hook attachment on their stand mixers

Rabbit Magic

There he was
Ears straight up
Eyes focused somewhere behind me
Sitting outside of the closed door of his cage
Alongside evidence he had been there
By himself
For a while
If I needed evidence of magic
There he was

confluence

I sit at a confluence of sorts
Less Tigress and Euphrates and
More Gilky creek and Flint river
But a confluence nonetheless
An unheralded passing in the night
Of gradual increases in weight and
Gradual reductions in requests to stay the night in her room and
I am afraid that we are both taking the paths
More travelled
Not that it would really make any differenc
Since
Right now
I am still sitting here
Watching the water flow by

pretty

He's in the back seat
At the start of a long car ride
Back home
Complaining
Mumbling
About being bored
Then I hear the word pretty and
Thinks he's complementing his mother
So I ask him about it and
He tells me that pretty is a good word and
That he is pretty bored
On out long car trip back there
In the back seat

windows down

icy dirty snow
retreating slowly outside
my open window

seasonal transitions

doughnuts and movies

will soon melt away into 

long walks and quick swims

Winter Recovery

He licks your mitten
You picture his little head
Over the toilet

One Day Post Vomit

He leans in
I lean away
Then
The very tips of my fingers
Tickling his
Pajama covered shoulder
I assist him in finding a more vertical orientation and
Under the cover of a sonic disturbance out in the hallway
I subtly increase the spearation
All the while never ceasing to read
The Trumpeter Swan and
Never stopping to wonder
If Sam Beaver
Would have embraced Louis so fully
Had muteness
Been contagious

Turning Point

My car is covered in ice
Frozen rain is coming down out of the heavens at me
It is March 3rd and
I feel a bit like I do after spending twenty minutes
Talking my son into eating half a grape and
A chicken nugget
It's not exactly a Lincoln at Gettysburg moment
But it's been a long winter and
Grapes aren't what they used to be

Of Distraction and Perfectiom

A glass of milk
Sitting on an otherwise empty table
At noon
Right where it was
At six the night before is
A lot like a rain gutter
Hanging half off of a house
Sporting newer siding
Windows
Roof and
UnderNeath the snow
Extensive landscaping
Which is to say
I can't wait for spring and summer to come
So that after will be more readily accepted water and
Azaleas and daisies are more likely to be in bloom and
At center stage

chasing time

Time

Is more slippery

Than a six year old

Wearing socks

On a newly polished bamboo floor

packing snow

this snow doesn't pack
so I can't throw it away
nearly fast enough

Parenting is always in context

Jumping off a cliff never seems to make sense

So 

If you were to have walked in to my son's room this morning 

And

Seen my wife and I dressing a half awake six year old

While he flopped to and fro

Like the Ronald McDonald ballon 

On

A windy day 

In

The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

I expect that you would have questioned our sanity

Even after you learned we were braving the hig winds

So that he could help his mom make coffee

But

I expect you would say the same about the man leaping off the cliff

If you did not see the stampeding herd of elephants