Monday Poetry Train #28

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Coverstory

by Joy Renee

Sorry, this poem does not relate.
I’m running a little bit late.
It’s already half-past eight
And I’ve got still to do
Many stitches times two
And the wrapping of seven plus four.
It’s got to be ready to go out the door
Not a minute later than one.
And I’m afraid I won’t get it done.
If I continue to fiddle
With riddle and rhyme
I am sure to run out of time.
So I’ll have to forgo my remarks
On the silliness of making
A thing for protecting
Worth more than that which it guards!

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This poem was written in 94 or 95 to slip into the gift bag with a needle-pointed book cover for a paperback which I had been frantically putting in the last stitches on the morning our gifts for Ed's family were being picked up by his brother as they left the Longview area on their way to Phoenix, Oregon. We didn't get to go that year as Ed couldn't get off work, nor did we have a reliable car.

This is the last of my poems. I'm going to have to start writing them again. Or else recycle. Or post fiction snippets. Maybe all the exposure to poetry since I hopped aboard the Poetry Train will help. Or maybe the immersion in the lives of three imaginary poets and/or Professors of poetry will have stimulated something. Or necessity. Or... Oh, I don't know why I kept putting it off. I knew this was coming. I calculated when I first hopped aboard that what I had would not take me much beyond Thanksgiving.

And now I'm going to be hard pressed to find the time to compose new stuff. I'm leaving Phoenix this afternoon and traveling up to Longview, WA to spend a couple weeks with my Mom and sister. I'm dragging a big bag of my sewing materials with me because I hope to make a few Christmas presents. Yeah. Another thing I let slide way too long. And there will be two year's worth of catch-up visiting.

I'm preparing this late Saturday night after spending seven hours packing and preparing for this trip. I'm going to save as draft and ask Ed to publish it for me in the late afternoon or evening as I don't know how late we will be getting back to my Mom's and I imagine we will all be too exhausted to figure out how to get me online with my laptop or alternately, teach me how to use their new Vista which wouldn't have my bookmarks. I will have Internet while there but time available for it will be limited. I mean, if I would rather spend ten to fifteen hours online every day I might as well stay right where I am.

One of the projects I'm going to be working on while there is to scan my family's photos into my laptop or onto CD-ROM. I will then be spending the next several months creating an electronic scrapbook that can be duplicated for every family member. These pictures will include those from my parents childhood as well as my own. So stay tuned. I will probably post a few.