Poolside Play

Every year in summer’s hot months
housewives swarm like angry
bees, their sting a bitter
look as they watch their kids fall
in the pool, then plop
down into chaise lounges
order adult beverageswith
lemon rind, skim frou-frou
magazines- all the while
ignorant to the wild ruckus
in the waves among
their own unruly kids,
a grasp for eternity

and I have to wonder
ifthey’re mentally subtracting
the days until September. I
watch from the deep end,
shirk the shallow scene as I
swim beside my children, splash
water in their faces and laugh at belly
flops as they jump like cannon
balls of energy, spurn my inner-
child desire to drop
my drawers and moon
those moms.

©laurie kolp

Prompt inspiration:The Sunday Whirl 64- ignorant, spurn, eternity, drawers, balls, year, rind, sting, months, housewives, subtracting, fall

Unwritten Instruction: Be a Sentinel

My youngest, Nicholas, when he was a precious toddler

Babies don't come with instructions
instinct becomes the driving force
to tend to, love, protect, nourish.

Tend to mustard poops, sour spit-up
with love that transcends all comprehension
protecting innocence, those kind eyes with trust
nourishing body, mind and spirit for a healthy future

because this out-of-body kind of love felt for a child
spans the cosmos with infinite stars reaching high
spreading salty air through vast oceans deep

to tend to, love, protect, nourish forever
instinctively knowing
babies
can't
swim.

Children don't come with instructions
but if they did, to be a sentinel
with an eagle eye
would be number one.

Protect our precious from drowning
enclose the pool with a safety gate,
watch them at all times--
they trust you.

Poet Inspiration: One Stop Poetry