Poem for Friday and Alki Sightseeing

Family Reunion
By Jeredith Merrin

The divorced mother and her divorcing
daughter. The about-to-be ex-son-in-law
and the ex-husband's adopted son.
The divorcing daughter's child, who is

the step-nephew of the ex-husband's
adopted son. Everyone cordial:
the ex-husband's second wife
friendly to the first wife, warm

to the divorcing daughter's child's
great-grandmother, who was herself
long ago divorced. Everyone
grown used to the idea of divorce.

Almost everyone has separated
from the landscape of a childhood.
Collections of people in cities
are divorced from clean air and stars.

Toddlers in day care are parted
from working parents, schoolchildren
from the assumption of unbloodied
daylong safety. Old people die apart

from all they've gathered over time,
and in strange beds. Adults
grow estranged from a God
evidently divorced from History;

most are cut off from their own
histories, each of which waits
like a child left at day care.
What if you turned back for a moment

and put your arms around yours?
Yes, you might be late for work;
no, your history doesn't smell sweet
like a toddler's head. But look

at those small round wrists,
that short-legged, comical walk.
Caress your history--who else will?
Promise to come back later.

Pay attention when it asks you
simple questions: Where are we going?
Is it scary? What happened? Can
I have more now? Who is that?

-------- 

Paul had a dentist appointment on Monday, possible trouble from an old root canal, so I took a ride with him while he was getting x-rays and went to Gamestop, DSW, and a thrift store that turned out to be run by a church group, which would have been more fun for me to browse in if they had not been blasting Christian rock. Then we went to the pharmacy at Target to pick up antibiotics and I tried on clearance rack clothes while waiting. This is the most gratuitous shopping I've done since we moved out here, so it was entertaining! 

In the late afternoon, we walked to the beach, from which the hills were a bit hazy from wildfire smoke but there were still plenty of ducks and a flock of geese. Then we came home for dinner, watched some of the Orioles game and some of the Mariners game, and saw this week's episodes of Billions (every time I really hate Chuck I remember what his father is like) and Foundation (Sareth is smarter than Seldon, she should have Dawn's baby instead of Day's, and the writers really need to start writing Gaal better). Some views around Alki Point: