November's Lament

This is a poem I wrote in response to my brother-in-law's poem about October's delight.

November's Lament

I sit in my study

fretting about what has not been done

to button up for winter.

The gardens are helter skelter

with summer's remains and autumn's detritous

blown about and leaden wet.

The peony's tall stalks are bowed

weeping with the cold,

no longer beautiful.

The garlic and basil and tomatoes and peppers

have been harvested;

turned into simmering dinners

but the beets remain in ground,

awaiting the perfect recipe,

the autumn soup that will do the earthy flavor justice

and maintain the harvest's reddish purple

of its bulbous root.

The flower bed is dead,

nothing clipped in ready for the

deepening cold.

No new bulbs to surprise

the onlooker in spring.

It is November and all I can think about

is Thanksgiving

and scraping frost from the windshield

and shoveling the driveway.

11 November 2008

When my children visit

I am on break from teaching for several days. My two adult children have come home for the Thanksgiving holiday and for my daughter's 20th high school reunion.

She, being the more social of my two kids, is wildly excited and had she a tail it would be wagging constantly. She lives 3,000 miles away and is still in regular contact with a few of her girl friends. My husband and I remember her as always being very social, very personable with a wide circle of friends. We wanted her to be more academic but she was a junior before I realized that interacting with people is her gift. In fact, when I have difficulties with my own siblings or colleagues it is my daughter to whom I turn for counsel. She is a awesome cook, a fierce debater, and a comforting nurturer.

My son is the polar opposite. He's quiet, contemplative, artistic, and has a small circle of friends, a few of whom go back to high school days. I talk to him about books, movies, technology, history, politics, and art. He's a scholar like my husband. He lives about 700 miles away.

I adore my two children. They're both interesting, talented cooks who are loyal friends, siblings, and children. They shared an apartment in southern California for 1 1/2 years after my son graduated from college. Even though they're over a decade apart in age, they've become very close. Both are still single and seek one another's counsel when life gets tough.

I love having them both home at the same time. We work in the kitchen together preparing meals; I just cut, peel, and chop while they make all of the culinary decisions. We sit and talk about politics, life, loves, food, travel, friends, family, dogs. We take walks with the dog and watch movies. They each go off to visit friends or friends come to our house. It's always good to see their friends age and mature; to watch their lives fan out to include jobs, spouses, children, homes. I'm very fortunate.