The day is finally here. We are dropping our youngest child off at university.
As often happens in times of transition, a favorite poem is making me smile and giving me comfort.
I first read “Moving Day,” by poet J. C. Elkin in 2010, when my little one actually was little — just ten years old. I selected this funny, emotionally true sonnet for an anthology I was editing.
Life in Me Like Grass on Fire: Love Poems was published by MWA Books in 2011. It includes 100 poems by 50 Maryland poets. Some of them stay with me, some I’m reminded of when I open the book. And some of the poems, like Jane’s, grow with me as I meet the moment of the poem in my own life.
MOVING DAY by J. C. Elkin
You moved into your dorm a sticky day.
We schlepped your stuff and sweat with no A. C.
I vowed I wouldn’t bawl. I’d be OK.
I, too, was moving on. Now I was free.
My mind a knot of hopes, unbidden fears.
A sign: Hydration — Health: Your Body’s Link.
A stupid thought to cap our eighteen years, my last advice was, “Don’t forget to drink.”
A hoard of tourists swarmed Colonial Town.
Your dad bought food. I found a bench outside.
I would have been just fine, but sitting down
I bumped my head, and cried, and cried, and cried.
My mother’s death. Your sister’s crash. Now this.
At least there’s always chocolate. Make it Swiss.
from Life in Me Like Grass on Fire:
Love Poems Shared with permission of the author, J. C. Elkin
Submitted by: Laura Shovan — https://laurashovan.com/blog/
