Gifts on the Porch

The Best Snowwoman Ever....

Please Excuse this Poem! I’ve been trying to share an original poem each day in April, for National Poetry Month, and in order to give a quick update on how Annette’s treatment is going and how we’re holding up, I’m multi-tasking and putting the update in poem form. My apologies to poetry haters [insert sarcastic cackle here.]

Gifts on the Porch

for a little girl, she hugs big

and those hugs, after two weeks away

refilled, what were our hearts bursting

with only ache and worry

outside our doorstep

packages of love from afar or next door

priceless gifts of Clorox wipes, N95 masks

books, delicious dishes, expensive soaps

chicken soup in a box, delivered

by a brown truck, spinning a 360

skidding backwards down the street

gifts of laughter

often, like the designer soap

mystery gifts, who sent this?

how to give thanks to the anonymous?

how to return the favor

to the health workers, delivery people,

and first responders?

each day we walk, together

down the road we know

and the one we don't

the destination undetermined

games of tag and stick your face

into the snow

Stick your face in the snow the longest!

her energy, like the spring sun

grows with each passing moment

the new minutes, small gifts

and the cough that brought us here

is all but gone, one week after chemo

the kids roll snowballs

first on the porch

they grow too big

not unlike this concept of cancer

but they help their mom

pick the perfect wig

she will need, as the chemicals

accumulate like each snowflake

building to crush the tumor

the sun breaks through the clouds

and we stack the boulder size balls

add a hat, scarf, rocks for eyes

a carrot and smiles

endless is our gratitude

for the gifts given

and those we create

and celebrate