Here are two light-hearted poems in honor of Martlet's newborn cousin, Liberty Rose, who has struggled in her first days with life-threatening illness. Martlet now reports that little Libby is doing much better.
Acurracy
by Naomi Shihab Nye
Lyda Rose walked through our front door and said, "Where is the sock monkey? I need him." This surprised me. She had never shown any interest in the sock monkey before.
We began digging in the tall basket where stuffed animals live.
Lyda Rose said, "I am two and a half now, did you know that? Where is he?"
We threw out the snake, the yellow bunnies, battered bears, a small eagle wearing a blue T-shirt, a camel, and the bird that makes a chickadee sound if you press its belly.
Sock Monkey was buried at the bottom.
Lyda Rose clutched him to her chest. "My husband," she said, closing her eyes dreamily.
I was astonished. "Your husband? When did this happen?"
She spoke clearly and definitely. "I thought of him and married him in my mind."
She ran around the dining room clutching her husband tightly singing the song of a chickadee trapped in a human body.
"How great! I am so happy fo you both!" I said, following her.
She did not answer, lost in a newlywed's swoon.
I said, "It's so nice that you love him now!"
And she stopped dancing, staring at me disapprovingly. "I didn't say I love him! I said, he is my husband!"
A Little Tooth
by Thomas Lux
Your baby grows a tooth, then two,
then four, and five, and then she wants some meat
directly from the bone, It's all
over: she'll learn some words, she'll fall
in love with cretins, dolts, a sweet
talker on his way to jail. And you,
your wife, get old, flyblown, and rue
nothing. You did, you loved, your feet
are sore. It's dusk. Your daughter's tall.
Acurracy
by Naomi Shihab Nye
Lyda Rose walked through our front door and said, "Where is the sock monkey? I need him." This surprised me. She had never shown any interest in the sock monkey before.
We began digging in the tall basket where stuffed animals live.
Lyda Rose said, "I am two and a half now, did you know that? Where is he?"
We threw out the snake, the yellow bunnies, battered bears, a small eagle wearing a blue T-shirt, a camel, and the bird that makes a chickadee sound if you press its belly.
Sock Monkey was buried at the bottom.
Lyda Rose clutched him to her chest. "My husband," she said, closing her eyes dreamily.
I was astonished. "Your husband? When did this happen?"
She spoke clearly and definitely. "I thought of him and married him in my mind."
She ran around the dining room clutching her husband tightly singing the song of a chickadee trapped in a human body.
"How great! I am so happy fo you both!" I said, following her.
She did not answer, lost in a newlywed's swoon.
I said, "It's so nice that you love him now!"
And she stopped dancing, staring at me disapprovingly. "I didn't say I love him! I said, he is my husband!"
A Little Tooth
by Thomas Lux
Your baby grows a tooth, then two,
then four, and five, and then she wants some meat
directly from the bone, It's all
over: she'll learn some words, she'll fall
in love with cretins, dolts, a sweet
talker on his way to jail. And you,
your wife, get old, flyblown, and rue
nothing. You did, you loved, your feet
are sore. It's dusk. Your daughter's tall.
