In The Middle

of a life that's as complicated as everyone else's,
struggling for balance, juggling time.
The mantle clock that was my grandfather's
has stopped at 9:20; we haven't had time
to get it repaired. The brass pendulum is still,
the chimes don't ring. One day I look out the window,
green summer, the next, the leaves have already fallen,
and a grey sky lowers the horizon. Our children almost grown,

again how to love, between morning's quick coffee
and evening's slow return. Steam from a pot of soup rises,
mixing with the yeasty smell of baking bread. Our bodies
twine, and the big black dog pushes his great head between;
his tail, a metronome, 3/4 time. We'll never get there,
Time is always ahead of us, running down the beach, urging
us on faster, faster, but sometimes we take off our watches,
sometimes we lie in the hammock, caught between the mesh
of rope and the net of stars, suspended, tangled up
in love, running out of time.

— Barbara Crooker from Radiance. © Word Press, 2005

You're the one I want to check out

These greeting cards by Kit Allen are very cute (hints of Dick Bruna I think).

I Close My Eyes

I close my eyes like a good little boy at night in bed,
as I was told to do by my mother when she lived,
and before bed I brush my teeth and slip on my pajamas,
as I was told, and look forward to tomorrow.

I do all things required of me to make me
a citizen of sterling worth.
I keep a job and come home each evening for dinner.
I arrive at the same time on the same train
to give my family a sense of order.

I obey traffic signals. I am cordial to strangers,
I answer my mail promptly.
I keep a balanced checking account.
Why can't I live forever?

— David Ignatow from Against the Evidence: Selected Poems 1934-1994.
© Wesleyan University Press, 1994. Reprinted with permission.