Is It True?

This completely random and obscure poem is brought you today by my Sixth Grade Self. 

Is It True?

By: LeMira K.

Is it true that you, the girl with long, blonde hair, are going to decide which one of them to choose?

What do you mean?

Is it true that you, the girl who dreams of unbelievable things, are going to choose who is in the parade?

Yes.

Is it true that you, the girl with the wrinkled skin, are going to spend time with me? Is it true?

Yes.

I knew it! I knew it!

I told you so, Fred!

The thing that just kills me with these poems is that I get SO CLOSE to the mark in having a great poem with a good title and a few really visual lines, and then I lose it.  I mean, it turns very boring and dumb.  This poem, though, is very revealing about who I was in sixth grade.   I was searching for who I was, and I ended being more of a class clown than anything. Sixth grade, though, was by FAR my favorite grade with my favorite teacher. Sixth grade was when I was dubbed "Lem" by my teacher, (which by the way, only a select few -- my brothers-- are allowed to call me anymore without repercussions). 

The Bond

The Bond

By: LK 

Written Friday, September 22, 1995

When I told you the other day,

The words didn't come out the right way.

I think I pushed you farther,

And that only makes things harder.

It would be so very kind

If you could just read my mind.

If only I knew

Just how to tell you.

We are drifting apart,

But listen to my heart --

We are really close friends

Let's not let our friendship end.

Let's try to look and see

What things could really be.

Just remember -- No matter what --

We are friends with a bond of love.

In high school I always wrote my poems with a specific person in mind.  I can't even tell you which friend this poem was for.  I can guarantee, though, that I wrote a copy of it and gave it to that person.  I know that this is a very simple poem, and you can see how much I tried to rhyme and keep the number of syllables even in the lines that do rhyme with each other.

So, now that you've read the sappy poem, here's what I've thought about it.  I could change the "friends" part and make it about my husband and my marriage.  I mean, honestly, the running joke in our house is that we wish we were mind readers -- ha!

Seriously, though, this week in our marriage, we've had some life-changing experiences.  To the outside person, you might not notice much, honestly.  Really, the changes have come between the two of us.  I credit my friend for posting this blog post.  In it, she posted a link to the article that has changed our marriage.  The article is called "A Wake-up Call to Wives," and can be found here.  After you read that, you should go and read the article called "A Wake-up Call to Husbands."  I read both articles and then when Matt got home from work, I told him that there were a couple of article I wanted him to read so we could discuss them.  I happened to leave them up on the computer so I wouldn't forget the links, and Matt read them without my prodding.

The rest of that evening, we discussed very openly some of the things we wanted to work on.  Since that time, I feel like a barrier has broken down in our marriage.  It's weird, though, because I didn't feel like we really had a lot of barriers, but once we talked, I felt freer.  The bond solidified between us, and the communication opened.

The timing was right.  I'm so thankful for a husband who is willing to change with me.  Our discussion didn't become a finger-pointing contest.  We were both very careful to listen.  We were both able to say things like, "I need" and be honest about it.  There weren't "You need to. . ."  We both had things we felt we needed to do without having the other person point it out for us.

Mine:  I'm going to strive to be a better homemaker.  Modern technology has made me lazy.  It's easy to get caught up online or just wandering the house.  My house isn't always clean -- time to change that.  Time to take pride in my job.

Matt:  Well, all week his changes have shined through, but here's one example.  Last night I started to feel a little unwell, (Yes, I was ill and needed a little pill. . . hehe. . .) and this morning, I did not have any energy.  He convinced me to stay home, and he took both boys with him to church. He cleaned the kitchen, got the boys ready, and told me to take it easy.  When I fought him on it, and told him he could keep the baby home, he referenced the article.

If anything, this week has been the week that has bonded my marriage.  I love Matt with my entire being.  He's my match; while we're not perfect, and we both know that it's not going to be smooth sailing here on out, we believe we can overcome anything together.

Matt, I love you.

Introducing LeMira's Literature Corner

Today as I was cleaning and organizing my hobby room, I came upon a box of papers I'd kept around since I was a teenager.  Most of the papers were motivational quotes and stories along with a bunch of Young Women hand-outs.  I realized that I could find most of the stories and even better hand-outs now with the internet and all of its resources.  The converted cereal box to file box had to go.

However, I'm glad I didn't just dump the whole box.  In it I found all of my poems and church talks starting from sixth grade through part of high school.  These babies are GEMS.  Most of them make me laugh because they are sappy, much like high school.  I even remembered why I wrote some of them, and many others, I do not.  I do know, however, that poetry was the way I dealt with my emotions.  Most poems were written for or about a specific person or situation.  I've been wanting to write them all up and print them off in a book for me -- not to sell, believe me when I say they are not worth selling.  They are worth keeping, however. 

I had this stroke of genius, or insanity, and I decided to let you all in to my past.  I'm going to start posting a poem or a talk a week, I think.  I will have my own Literature Corner, haha!  I don't care if you tear apart my poems.  I tried really hard to rhyme when I wrote them, which makes them even sappier.  They make me smile.  You may just think they're boring, and that's okay, but at least I will have them documented here.  Then, I can finally print off my blog and have them in one place.

Okay, first up,  "You Look a Little Ill."  This was written in sixth grade when we had a guest poet come in and help us with a poetry unit.  I remember him thinking we all needed to do better, and I remember thinking he was really good.  I have no idea who it was, but I remember him working with all of us.

"You Look a Little Ill"

You look a little ill

Your face is green and pale.

It has little blue spots, too.

You look a little ill

Your [sic] soaked with sweat,

And your eyes are shaded gray.

You look a little ill

Your face is green and pale

You need a little pill.

You look a little ill.

Go lay in bed a while 

Take a rest because

You look a little ill.

Personally, this poem had potential, and I missed it.  This has the beginnings of a Shel Silverstein or Jack Prelutsky type poem, and I completely missed it.  I think I didn't quite get humorous poetry yet although I loved it at that age.

Stay tuned for next week!