FAMILY: Pictures for You

 

PICTURES FOR YOU

 

Let me take pictures for you

who are imprisoned

by your body floating over the edges.

Let me climb to the highest hill

to discover the lighthouse

you wish you could reach.

As I click on it,

I focus my thoughts toward you.

Your body, racked in pain, cannot go far,

but your soul reaches me.

We are intertwined in struggles of gravity and age.

The pain of one numbs the other.

The fear for one claims the other.
 

Let me take pictures for you while we

pretend for the other’s sake

that you are not hurting.

The limp is there—

It cannot be hidden,

but we look beyond it

to our memories

where you sped effortlessly

before me

in a race around the block

that ended

in the beginning

of our life together.

Let me take pictures for you.

 

Beth Good--2005

 

EDUCATION: Past Due

 

 

 

PAST DUE

 

My spirit, soaring through the dreams of children

and the passion of  music,

rests in a decaying shell

yearning for youthful energy—

the body, in biting discord,

eats away at itself

while the soul dances to the harmony

of impertinent cherubs. 

How long can this body be carried

by the fragile wisps of wind

singing through the pines ?

 

 

Beth Good--1997

 

FAMILY: The Party

 

THE PARTY

 

            She’d never had her own birthday party--ever.

She’d never had a real family-- 

A mother who cared,

A sister who cared. 

Her fiftieth birthday was not about

growing old. 

It was about being a special part

of other’s lives.

She’d never had her own birthday party--ever.

As a child, unclaimed, waiting to be claimed.

Unloved, hoping to be loved.

A dreamer reaching for approval,

but pretending not to. 

She’d never had her own birthday party--ever. 

How do you design your own party?

Graciously, expectantly, nervously. 

An adult waiting to be the child

wanting to be waiting

for that special day

to be celebrated together

as a family--

her birth day. 

She never had a birthday party--ever.

Until today.

And they came.

Those who loved her for who she was

 and who she would be.

Her chosen family. 

 

 

Beth Good--2001

FEELINGS: The Outsider

 

 

 

THE OUTSIDER

 

I am a snob you see,

or do you?

I have a shell no one invades,

painted with swanky smiles,

engulfing yawwwwwwwwns,

sticky eyebrows,

capped teeth. 

It is mine until I decide

to let it go,

but never for long.

Will you be around then?

I would so much want you

to meet me,

naked.

Please do,

and I will cry

on your shoulder

until the phone rings.

Please do.

  Please do.  

 

 

Beth Good--1972

 

FEELINGS: On Becoming Blind

 

ON BECOMING BLIND

Darting, skirting, ripping apart,

my eye’s excrement floats

into a tunnel

blurred and distant.

Left alone, I watch

from the darkening caverns.

No longer do colors,

shapes and faces

invite me.

Instead, I reach for the senses

once ignored,

using them with an intensity

understood by the humbled and

savored by the determined.

The subtleties of sound, smell, taste and touch

permeate my body

as life’s fragile hands once again

caress my soul. 

 

 

Beth Good--1987

FAMILY: Noni's Little Glow Worm

 

NONI’S LITTLE GLOW WORM

 

We didn’t expect you

over five weeks early--.

our little jaundiced glow worm,

peeking out from beneath the lights. 

We didn’t expect you

to be so beautiful,

dipped in yellow,

lighting the universe.

The night is upon us now,

and your little big sister

snuggles into her very own bed

beside the crib that is waiting for you.

You sleep quietly instead

in your radiant cradle

beside your mother and father‘s bed,

dreaming of Reese’s Pieces and E. T.

 

 

Beth Good--2003

FAMILY: Middle Age

 

MIDDLE AGE

Some days I just feel like

an old woman,

sort of crinkled up

like a Post Toastie.

With my furrowed eyebrows,

I feel soberly wise,

of infinite age

as I babysit my brother

while Mom’s next store

borrowing sugar--

or something.

 

What’s it take to learn to be

young again?

Age?

No.

A hurt needed soothing,

a snowball fight,

a brother who tattles,

a neat joke.

 

‘Course then,

one shouldn’t rush into

feeling young.

It’s better to have

the burdens of the world

on your shoulder.

Keeps your feet

on the ground.

 

I’m tired.

 

Beth Good - 1970s

CAUSES: The Meeting

THE MEETING

 

I had arrived, I thought,

as I, in my embattled body

sat listlessly before her.

Angrily, she demanded

answers and apologies

that would not appear.

 

Instead, I laughed

(how dare I?)

and shook my head,

realizing that logic

would not prevail.

 

Accused but not shamed,

intimidated but not moved,

deciphered but not understood,

I listened as she arrogantly

tore into what she perceived

to be the truth.

 

I had arrived, I thought.

The manipulation,

the shunning,

the amateurish analysis

had not affected my ability

to see clearly.

 

The dying don’t lose arguments.

They ignore them.

 

Beth Good--1986