Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Grocery Day.<\/p>\n
And if I can find a quarter,<\/p>\n
I can ride the merry-go-round<\/p>\n
at the market<\/p>\n
when Mommy goes to town.<\/p>\n
\u2018Apollo\u2019 and I<\/p>\n
will fly round and round–<\/p>\n
and never leave the ground\u2026<\/p>\n
So, early, to grandma\u2019s, I run,<\/p>\n
To sweep her porch,<\/p>\n
Get chores done.<\/p>\n
Under the arching elms,<\/p>\n
Sun-dappled, dew-laden,<\/p>\n
Dandelioned and buttercup-strewn,<\/p>\n
Past twining roses,<\/p>\n
the breeze splashing about<\/p>\n
in the fragrant cloud,<\/p>\n
confetti of pink petals<\/p>\n
clings to my bare feet.<\/p>\n
At the back door,<\/p>\n
I can hear through the screen,<\/p>\n
friendly chatter,<\/p>\n
the milkman delivering<\/p>\n
the usual two gallons,<\/p>\n
boxed donuts,<\/p>\n
cartons of eggs–<\/p>\n
\u2018almost as fresh<\/p>\n
as the biddie\u2019s used to bring\u2019–<\/p>\n
And brief company<\/p>\n
for a lonely old woman,<\/p>\n
past raising her own chickens.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, hello there, my friend\u201d.<\/p>\n
Though kindergarten stole me away,<\/p>\n
my Wednesday-friend is still the same:<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is behind your ear?\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Hooper, dark-rimmed glasses<\/p>\n
that rest more on his cheeks,<\/p>\n
than his nose;<\/p>\n
wavy, white hair<\/p>\n
curling out from the uniform cap,<\/p>\n
reaches close,<\/p>\n
retrieves a quarter hiding there,<\/p>\n
just where he said,<\/p>\n
where I was sure<\/p>\n
I had scrubbed good.<\/p>\n
He winks at Grandma;<\/p>\n
waves goodbye, steps out<\/p>\n
to his yellow delivery truck,<\/p>\n
that waddles through the holes<\/p>\n
in the gravel drive,<\/p>\n
puddle-jumping<\/p>\n
as it goes.<\/p>\n
II<\/p>\n
Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Grandma is gone.<\/p>\n
So is Mr. Hooper.<\/p>\n
I have long-since stopped<\/p>\n
hoarding quarters<\/p>\n
for the merry-go-round<\/p>\n
at the grocery.<\/p>\n
Every Wednesday now\u2014<\/p>\n
and all the other six days beside\u2014<\/p>\n
study and essay,<\/p>\n
notation and grade-point.<\/p>\n
Quarter point between me<\/p>\n
and valedictorian–<\/p>\n
and scholarship.<\/p>\n
Campus, littered with filtered shadow,<\/p>\n
trees sway in golden light,<\/p>\n
fringed with fragrant roses;<\/p>\n
Pedal-strewn, the sidewalks<\/p>\n
call me onward,<\/p>\n
Miles to go,<\/p>\n
around the academic calendar,<\/p>\n
circles unrelenting.<\/p>\n
No time for puddle jumping.<\/p>\n
One quarter until graduation.<\/p>\n
If only a quarter of a grade point<\/p>\n
hid behind my ear;<\/p>\n
I reach my finger up,<\/p>\n
and check,<\/p>\n
just to be sure.<\/p>\n
III<\/p>\n
Wednesday, again.<\/p>\n
Where did all the Wednesdays go?<\/p>\n
My editor marks off<\/p>\n
the approaching deadline.<\/p>\n
Deadlines met, passed, forgotten;<\/p>\n
Replaced by the endlessness of task.<\/p>\n
The next quarter-installment.<\/p>\n
On Thursdays,<\/p>\n
and sometimes on Fridays,<\/p>\n
when no new deadline exhales<\/p>\n
its dragon breath<\/p>\n
through the filtered light<\/p>\n
of a long and happy marriage,<\/p>\n
where I seek quarter, find respite,<\/p>\n
I can smell roses,<\/p>\n
mostly from memory.<\/p>\n
The neighbor\u2019s chickens,<\/p>\n
scratch along in my yard,<\/p>\n
gift eggs under the roses,<\/p>\n
where I\u2019m certain there were none before.<\/p>\n
Grandchildren sweep my back step for pocket change.<\/p>\n
IV<\/p>\n
There are no more milkmen.<\/p>\n
Late on Wednesday,<\/p>\n
I head to market, alone.<\/p>\n
Park under a shady elm.<\/p>\n
Over the clamor of folks<\/p>\n
hurrying here and there,<\/p>\n
I catch a hint of wild roses.<\/p>\n
I still need my quarter,<\/p>\n
to wrangle a cart,<\/p>\n
from its locked corral.<\/p>\n
I shop from a list of cans<\/p>\n
and cannots,<\/p>\n
meant to keep me well,<\/p>\n
to extend my life.<\/p>\n
With 90 in the rear view,<\/p>\n
to what purpose?<\/p>\n
Every Wednesday:<\/p>\n
vegetables, fresh fruit, prunes, and salmon.<\/p>\n
I forego the box of cereal twigs.<\/p>\n
I get the regular coffee anyway.<\/p>\n
And the muffins.<\/p>\n
A carton of eggs–<\/p>\n
nowhere near as fresh<\/p>\n
as the biddies used to bring.<\/p>\n
I head for the car.<\/p>\n
There is a puddle;<\/p>\n
Sadly, I am too tame,<\/p>\n
have forgotten how–<\/p>\n
My shoes would get soaked.<\/p>\n
I let the coin-laden cart<\/p>\n
run wild in the parking lot…<\/p>\n
Relinquishing my last quarter.<\/p>\n
Sej 2023<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Wednesday. Grocery Day. And if I can find a quarter, I can ride the merry-go-round at the market when Mommy goes to town. \u2018Apollo\u2019 and I will fly round and round– and never leave the ground\u2026 So, early, to grandma\u2019s, I run, To sweep her…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":564,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marathon-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/564"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142189,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142160\/revisions\/142189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}