Tag Archives: poem about gifts

Mother’s Day: NaPoWriMo 2020, Day 20

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Mother’s Day

Twenty wooden clothespins, slightly askew,
painted every color of the rainbow,
clipped to an empty Starkist tuna can.

A handful of dirt,
a tiny plant
and a quarter cup
of crushed lava rock.

A gift from an 8-year-old,
it graces my typing table
in front of a painting—
gift from another friend—
that it seems made for.

Thank-you, Yoli, little girl
who makes priceless gifts
for a childless friend.

Like me, my grandmother,
peerless collector of cast-offs,
handicrafter extraordinaire,
would have declared it beautiful.

 

 

For Apr 20, 2020 NaPoWriMo we are to write a poem about a handmade gift you have received.

Hop Scotch: NaPoWriMo 2019, Day 7

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As usual, when I showed Forgottenman this little house I made for Yolanda’s daughter, Yoli, he insisted there must be a poem in it. Since this day’s prompt is about gifts, it seemed preordained. This is the little house fashioned by a man from clay as we sat eating our lunch in Tlaquepaque and listening to mariachi music. They were for the taking for a tip, so I chose one, brought it home and painted it. I had to add a few people and animals and flowers just to make it happier for Yoli, who always makes me happy.

Hop Scotch

Everyone should have a child around
now and then
to shake out the wrinkles
and lighten up the predictable.

That lighthearted humming on the patio,
tuneless and joyful?
That Barbie doll world
set up for the hour or so

before she goes
tripping off
to find tennis balls
in the garden with the dog?

Someone else’s child.
What gift could she treasure as much
as I have treasured this last hour’s
spontaneous distraction ?

One shoe
under the terrace table.
One cookie vanished off the plate.
One giggle listened for. 

 

NaPoWriMo prompt: Today, we’d like to challenge you to write a poem of gifts and joy. What would you give yourself, if you could have anything? What would you give someone else?

Bad Timing

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Bad Timing

On my birthday in July, my true love gave to me
a coupon for a ski trip and a real live Christmas tree.
Chocolates when I’m dieting, sad songs when I am gloomy.
A grand piano, though my new apartment’s not too roomy.
The week that “Save the Animals” appointed me their chair,
he bought me a new winter coat of lynx and llama hair.

He brings home ice cream in the cold, hot cocoa in the summer.
When I broke my tooth, the peanut brittle was a bummer.
Though his gifts are generous, my thanks are often mimed,
for I’m speechless over just how badly all of them are timed!
The reason why we are not wed is so hard to relate.
I had the cake, the rings, the gown. We set the time and date.

The groom showed up and waited as I walked down the aisle.
My wedding dress was finest lace, my undergarments lisle.
I’d planned each detail out with care and left no stone unturned.
Just one detail  left to him–you’d think I would have learned!
For when I went to say “I do” to this  man I adore,
they found our wedding license had lapsed two weeks before!

The Prompt––10,000 Spoons  Tell your own verse, stanza, or story of a badly-timed annoyance.