Poem for Poetry Thursday
The slump continues. But unlike the Red Sox, I see an end in sight.
I wrote this poem in May, and it happens to fit today's prompt.
Time Map
Which letter to write
Which book to read
Which room in the house to clean
and how deeply
Which window to open to allow in the most breeze
Which cloud, which curve of the air
Which lawns have the most dandelions punctuating the grass
like ellipses, what gets said, what’s left out
Which lawns, besides ours, have no nutritional value
Which forsythia branches to clip
Which sticks to bundle for rubbish
Which ones to adorn the living room mantle
next to the wedding photo,
the crystal egg, the clock with its incessant ticking
Which neighbor will drop by with our misdelivered mail
Which neighbors won’t say hi when I stand in the front yard,
with their small lots and big fat driveways
Which ones think my grass is greener
Which Cheetos to eat as my son counts them in the bag
with his cheesy little fingers
Which happiness, too many to choose
I should also mention that a Time Map is a term used by Professional Organizer Julie Morgenstern. It’s like a budget for your time where you manage your activities on a chart. (Here’s an example of a Time Map. Scroll down the page to view it.)
For more poems, visit Poetry Thursday!
I wrote this poem in May, and it happens to fit today's prompt.
Time Map
Which letter to write
Which book to read
Which room in the house to clean
and how deeply
Which window to open to allow in the most breeze
Which cloud, which curve of the air
Which lawns have the most dandelions punctuating the grass
like ellipses, what gets said, what’s left out
Which lawns, besides ours, have no nutritional value
Which forsythia branches to clip
Which sticks to bundle for rubbish
Which ones to adorn the living room mantle
next to the wedding photo,
the crystal egg, the clock with its incessant ticking
Which neighbor will drop by with our misdelivered mail
Which neighbors won’t say hi when I stand in the front yard,
with their small lots and big fat driveways
Which ones think my grass is greener
Which Cheetos to eat as my son counts them in the bag
with his cheesy little fingers
Which happiness, too many to choose
I should also mention that a Time Map is a term used by Professional Organizer Julie Morgenstern. It’s like a budget for your time where you manage your activities on a chart. (Here’s an example of a Time Map. Scroll down the page to view it.)
For more poems, visit Poetry Thursday!
Comments
Some stand-out lines:
"Which lawns have the most dandelions punctuating/
the grass
like ellipses, what gets said, what’s left out"
and "which ones think my grass is greener" (for its double meaning--nice!)
I always enjoy reading your work, January...I learn from studying you!
Thanks for sharing this.
Peace,
FC
"Which sticks to bundle for rubbish
Which ones to adorn the living room mantle
next to the wedding photo,
the crystal egg, the clock with its incessant ticking
Which neighbor will drop by with our misdelivered mail
Which neighbors won’t say hi when I stand in the front yard,"
i think you've just inspired me to write a list poem - good work!
p.s. i had a peek at the time map. looked sheer exhausting ;-O
Terrific cataloguing, and smart in all the ways everyone else has praised the smart smartness in your poem.
And I did make my own time map. Once. It was much more fun making it that actually doing it.
which room..and how deeply.!!!HA HA HA Ha....i would write this in dust if you were here. Nice job. I knew you would do a nice job with this.
But I loved your list!