family reunion

d. ellis phelps

July 28, 2024

make the beds           bake a sheet cake

sweep the house        buy fresh flowers

fire up the brisket that’ll smoke for hours

everybody comes carrying loads:

chips and queso    cases of coke          

smores for late night campfire smoke

we celebrate birthdays      dads and grads

tease all the cousins as we tell & retell

family stories we remember well

kids swim and play volleyball 

splash in the pool     holler & wrestle

laugh out loud          bounce in a castle

after a while we’re all played out

bellies full of brisket & homemade bread

no doubt about it:  this family’s been fed

~

i’ve played the roles i’ve come to play:

mother grandmother aunt wife

is there more than this to life

i’ve spent hours in my garden 

i’ve written verse & painted vessels

i’ve taught such things to listening pupils 

i’ve watched birds and creature beings

i’ve lazed      nested      worked when i should

i’ve ridden roller coasters when i could

i might have given time to science

i might have jumped from a flying plane

i might have worked for money or fame

tho after this day      the food      the fire

i wonder under starlit sky

why would i.   i ask you.   why?

d. ellis phelps’ work has appeared widely online and in print. She is the author of four poetry collections and one novel and the editor of Moon Shadow Sanctuary Press (MSSP) and of the digital journal fws:  international journal of literature & art where she publishes the work of others.