Poetry Breakfast

aging children

why do songs last longest
longer even than the memory
of smells that call us home
my mother sang her mother’s songs
as i sing hers to you
too small to join the chorus
but that will come

that will come
when time and growing spin you
make star trails in your sky
lullabies will fade to whatever
is popular at the moment
but in the isolated nights
always the little tunes

always the tunes
that cement you in place
along the branching scrawl
you will sing them to yourself
or to a budding leaf that you
yourself have molded
you age, it’s true, but rhymes
and melodies do not

melodies do not
leave us alone or lonely
like sap that ebbs in autumn
rises again in spring, the voiced
love that taught a hundred mothers past
will teach a thousand yet to come
as children come, and come of age
humming softly, and softly fade away

About the Poet:
j.lewis is an internationally published poet, musician, and nurse practitioner. His poems have appeared online and in print in numerous journals from California to Nigeria to the UK. When he is not otherwise occupied, he is often on a kayak, exploring and photographing the waterways near his home in California. His first collection of poetry and photography debuts on June 23, 2016, and is available on Amazon.

Photo from Unsplash.

Poetry Breakfast accepts submissions of poetry and poetry related creative non-fiction year-round.  See our Submission Guidelines page for details on submitting your work.

Start your morning with a nourishing poem.  Follow us on  Twitter, Facebook, and  Tumblr,  and enjoy a new poem every morning straight to your feed.

can we just reincarnate

wouldn’t it be great she asked
if we could just reincarnate
drop these tired, broken bodies
and step into new flesh, new bones
new sneakers and new jeans

she laughed at the thought
pulled a photo from a red clutch
as tired and worn as she was
look
me at sixteen
full of ambition and no direction
sixty was nowhere in my mind
my heart, my bones
like it is today

do you think age has weight
she wondered aloud
and answered herself
i do, yes i do
everything feels heavier
harder to hold up
harder to hold onto

she thinks about her uncle
and his heaviness
of heart, of mind, of body
tries to fathom his loneliness
that universal unique pain
of separation, of sorrow
the turning to one no longer there
to complain or whisper his love
just today someone said
at least she this or that
at least he something else
and it was meaningless
wasted words
and no comfort at all

she looks up suddenly and smiles
remembering she is not alone
though she has been
more often than not
more often when it mattered most
do you know how hard it is
starting over again at sixty
with new work, new wrinkles, new worries

he smiled at the rhetorical question
as he scribbled a new poem
on her napkin
yes, he said quietly
yes

About the Poet:
j.lewis is an internationally published poet, musician, and nurse practitioner. His poems have appeared online and in print in numerous journals from California to Nigeria to the UK. When he is not otherwise occupied, he is often on a kayak, exploring and photographing the waterways near his home in California. His first collection of poetry and photography debuts on June 23, 2016, and is available on Amazon.

Photo by Iris Vallejo.

Poetry Breakfast accepts submissions of poetry and poetry related creative non-fiction year-round.  See our Submission Guidelines page for details on submitting your work.

Start your morning with a nourishing poem.  Follow us on  Twitter, Facebook, and  Tumblr,  and enjoy a new poem every morning straight to your feed.