I don’t know what was happening with the other posts! The image of the poem with the photo keeps cutting out. Last try. I promise!
Grad Days
On the bed, I gather my daughter under my arm
I open to the journal entry I wrote about finishing high school
She reads it out loud, stumbling on my messy cursive words
We laugh at the similarities: the dreaded math exam
the pull of adulthood on our minds, the exhaustion in our bodies
Then the dog pees on the journal. Looks right at us as he does it
We squeal and yank the book from under him, pull him off the bed
scramble to lift the comforter from the mattress, laugh and laugh
Thing is, I’m still that eighteen-year-old nerd, still nervous
passionate, striving to make an impact, to stand in the profound
new moon in gemini
conjuncts past & present
two new bulbs on the orchid
VANESSA SHIELDS 