Leave the Kids at Home
Company was due the next day and we were short on chowBut we knew we’d have to find a way to feed them anyhow Ma said there’s only one old hen that she could spare to stewBut even fixed with dumplings, it won’t feed that crew We looked in the smokehouse, but there wasn’t much…
First Line of Defense
Out my window, a bluebird dive-bombs a squirrel,Swooping upon its head to drive it away.Never mind that the squirrel has no designs Upon the bluebird chicks safe within their nest.Or that he who placed the bird house high upon its postEquipped it with a baffle to keep predators at bay.Coon nor cat nor snake nor…
If winning is all you ever celebrate
If winning is all you ever celebrate Life’s better lessons can easily be lostAnd worse, you may falsely elevateThe role of chance when the dice were tossedAs if your skill alone made the score Or no one else helped you pay the cost.For when you’ve fallen flat on the floorYou may want to hang your…
Watch the Birds
Watch the birds and you will seeThat half of flying is fallingTheir wings dance with air As gravity pulls them down.Penguins too fall and flyBut through water rather than airDescending for their meal of fish,Which, now that I think of it,Also fall and swim. Avian, aquatic, and terrestrial—All creatures under heaven’s domeAcquit themselves of gravity’s…
Dear Mrs. Hamilton
Dear Mrs. Hamilton, It’s me, Garry. I was in your third-grade class at Owens Elementary in 1960-61. I apologize for taking so long to write. The reason I am writing now is to thank you for doing such a great job teaching me and my classmates. And now I know enough to appreciate your work,…
Square One
Not that it ever gets any credit, but no one ever got anywhere without starting out on Square One. Even so, it’s when some future square—whether square three or square thirty—turns out to be a dead end, that Square One gets mentioned–and then, as a place to go back to. It may seem like an…
Socialization Matters
When I was a kid, we’d play softball of a summer afternoon. All the kids in the neighborhood would gather in someone’s backyard or a nearby schoolyard, choose sides, and play ball. Great fun. Sure, sometimes an argument would break out concerning the rules—we didn’t have an umpire—but we’d settle it and keep playing. Now…
To Cowboy Poets
It’s not just that you sleep beneath the starsOr that you chase wild cows on dancing steedsIt’s that you treasure landscapes spread afarNeath Western skies, freshened by the breeze.At dawn and dusk and every step betweenYou fill the day with what work must be done.Hard you ride for the brand that buys your beansAnd biscuits,…
Did Jesus Have Grandparents?
Did Jesus have grandparents? After all,His mother was not much more than a girlWhen she birthed a savior for the worldWhose kingdom, ruled in peace, would never fall.Inspiration did not touch the heartsOf Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John, it seemsTo tell of his grandparents or their dreamsAnd so I come to ponder on that part.That…
COWGIRL GRIT
Rise, he said, and straddle that horse That threw you to the earth Falling from the saddle, of course Doesn’t measure your true worth. You’re not the first, won’t be the last To meet with harsh reversal Your bumps and bruises, once they’re past Are just part of life’s rehearsal. Rise, he said, and face…
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Garry Breland 