Now two, soon three

Mom and Dad - soon to be,

today, two, September, three, a little boy,

Owen, I think, or will he be Henry,

or any of a million other names.

One bike, three people, no more

bike rides down to Pearl Street

for intimate dinners for two.

Perhaps baby in the basket, mama in the back

papa pedaling, to the park, to grandma's,

new adventures, new bike. 

I want this Tuff Shed

I want this Tuff Shed

that resides in the upscale neighborhood south

of my 'hood, the neighborhood that my son

calls the slums.

he lives two blocks from this Tuff Shed,

down south, in the upscale neighborhood.

I want this Tuff Shed in my yard to

store bikes and my old corded electric mower,

the Burley trailer for Bella

and the one for the baby.

That Tuff Shed is pretty and big,

too big for our yard, I don't know

where I would put it but I know I just

want it.

Karen and Mira

Tess

she will take on the world one day.

I could see her brain working, thinking, categorizing,

judging, reflecting, speaking her truth,

how she sees the world from all directions,

even considering Fox News vs The New York Times.

She is a thinker.

I see her hands working as the sun beats down

in the heat, the temperatures reaching towards 97F,

her hands pulling up mint and grass, leaving 

behind dirt which will rest under newspaper

until next Spring to welcome seeds of melons

and flowers.

She is no longer a little girl happy to cuddle in

her parents' arms

She is demanding of the world,

she will take on the world one day.

I look forward to it.

Parallel Lives of a Sink

Twins we are, like the other one,

we don't get along,

he the Evangelical Trumper, the anti-Vaxxer,

Me, the scientist who believes in data

good data.

The roots of our differences, a different scrubbing 

of sorts, a random negligence, too little

time for tending,

I look for truth, since it's not here in the sink.

two adjacent realities

a dog, a baby and me

it's a sunny day.

dog, baby and me,

the computer humming in my room upstairs

there is no one to attend to such weighty 

matters as space debris hurtling 15 km/sec

or venting of space telescopes when

the fairing deploys into the deep 

vastness of space

at this moment,

I don't care, must making sure 

that Mira does not drop the leash,

the Bella behaves, and that I can 

feel the sun on my skin.

that's all the matters to me,

the dog and the baby.

why I forgot

I last wrote a poem on Tuesday, or was it Monday

definitely not Wednesday, and tomorrow is Friday.

the week teeters towards its wobbly end

the way she, my love, wobbles on her little

chubby legs, we forget the days or hours.

This promise, back in January, to write every

weekday, to end each day in some organized 

manner, including a reflection on the day,

a moment of quiet, instead tumbling into bed

exhausted, no idea of where the day went

but knowing that it was well spent.

tag: Mira

la grenouille

presque cachée, cette grenouille

belle avec ses taches,

la patte sur la petite branche

on se regarde

respectueux, attentif, puis

elle est partie. 

au revoir.

Subtract temperature effects

can't you just do this

subtract bottom curve from top

resulting in the difference

the mass desorbing off the crystal

it should behave this way.

but, Jenny, it does not.

oh why oh why can't a data set agree

with what I know to be true. ice does

evaporate off warm surfaces

so, alas, what is wrong with this data

and is such an investigation worth the time

The man who wanted Pistachio ice cream

ok

he started talking to me

about ice cream.  about how he really wanted some.

about how he wanted to know if I would buy some for him.

ok

this is post-COVID, people have suffered, maybe he has

he spoke in complete sentences about ridiculous things,

about being addicted to ice cream and trying to taper, 

but needed it, really.

ok

what difference would it make in my life if I bought him some ice cream

would it break the bank, would my life collapse, was I aiding and abetting

but he did say that he had been kicked out already a few times

was he different from someone begging in the street

that someone I never gave a second look

ok

I bought the ice cream

in exchange for a photo

I hope he found a spoon.

Toilet bowl cleaner - homemade

It frothed and foamed over the top of the ice cube tray,

baking soda and citric acid, sal suds and hydrogen peroxide

mix gently, the recipe said, so it doesn't froth

so much for first time attempts at home made products

I laughed

with every attempt will come potential disaster

but without serious consequences, no lost lives,

no birth defects or hurt feelings, no harm done.

after a few hours, I broke off a few pieces and 

used as instructed, dropping some into the toilet

bowl and watching what was left of the froth.

I'm not sure how to improve my methodology

but it will be fun to find out.