Tag: joyinlife

Poem – Patio (Draft) by Galen Skye

Poem – Patio (Draft) by Galen Skye

Patio

You build it together.
A new outdoor space for
Entertaining, play and peace.
You build it with sweat, aching backs
Even a little bit of blood and a few
Tears of Frustration.

When it is done, though, there is
Accomplishment,
Satisfaction,
and Exhaustion.
But that is not even the beginning.
As it turns out, you created so much more.


It is an oasis on a troubled day.
A fortress, ready with turrets and
A lookout post.
It is a spacecraft, hovering over
Strange people and worlds.
It is no longer a layer of bricks.
It is a time machine taking you to
Fascinating places filled with
Adventures just waiting to be explored.

This place, this simple patio, becomes
Solace and hope during a complicated time.
And as the smile on your son’s face brightens
With imagination, it lights up your world.

Then, when the storms roll in and
We scramble to put things away, and
The wind kicks up,
A patio it becomes again,
Until another day, when imagination reigns and
The possibilities take flight.

G. S. Skye

9 June 2020 (Draft)

Patio, a poem by Galen S. Skye
Spin, Spin, Spin! (2017)

Spin, Spin, Spin! (2017)

Oh to be three and full of such joy.
I watch my son and see the gears in his brain
Spin, and spin and spin!
Thoughts colliding just as he stubbles over a toy,
(or several, we never get them put away for long.)
I glance away for but a moment and he has
Markers in his hands now.
Spin, spin, spin!
Arms out, the tops of the markers undone. “Look at me,” he demands.
And I admit, I had been paying more attention to my book,
So I do. Calmly we turn the markers to a more useful purpose.
It pacifies him for a while, maybe 10 minutes at best,
And then off he goes again!
The sun is out! Spin, spin, spin!
Catching the dust in the rays of light, he turns to me,
“Outside?”
Eyes so bright, and dimmed for only a moment
When I remind him how cold it is outside.
Spin. He hugs my leg and then dances away.
SPIN. He giggles and hides behind a chair.
And out again he comes, moments later to share his joy!
A fish cracker (only a few days old, I’m sure. Still good!)
Spin, Spin, Spin!
Flops in the floor at my feet, hands raised toward me with such glee.
“Mommy!”
The smile ingites the room and my world in that moment it perfect.
So I stand up,
And we Spin!