Linda Nunes, Little House
Juggling Parenthood at Seventy
Beth Kanell
The diagrams suggest it isn’t hard:
you start with all three balls, and toss the first
release the second, pass the third–it’s art–
then you believe you’re ready for the next.
I start the day with all the balls in hand
prepared to just confirm I’ve found the art
where I believe I’m ready for the next
demand for help from one of my grown sons.
Release my expectations, trust the art:
I set them free to fly, I gave them wings.
I ache each time they cry for help, grown sons
who stumble and who bleed, for love’s own sake.
I raised them well and saw them claim their wings,
each full of confidence and boundless hope–
convinced that love could raise them like an art.
I blame myself each time they crash and cry.
How can I feed fresh confidence and hope?
Release them, give them freedom, though it hurts–
when will they rise, instead of crash and cry?
The diagram suggests it isn’t hard.
Beth Kanell
The diagrams suggest it isn’t hard:
you start with all three balls, and toss the first
release the second, pass the third–it’s art–
then you believe you’re ready for the next.
I start the day with all the balls in hand
prepared to just confirm I’ve found the art
where I believe I’m ready for the next
demand for help from one of my grown sons.
Release my expectations, trust the art:
I set them free to fly, I gave them wings.
I ache each time they cry for help, grown sons
who stumble and who bleed, for love’s own sake.
I raised them well and saw them claim their wings,
each full of confidence and boundless hope–
convinced that love could raise them like an art.
I blame myself each time they crash and cry.
How can I feed fresh confidence and hope?
Release them, give them freedom, though it hurts–
when will they rise, instead of crash and cry?
The diagram suggests it isn’t hard.