Death of Scott's Sister - Chat with the Marce - My To-Do List - Poem: The Thrill of Snow

 DEATH OF A SISTER

Many people die at 60.
But Cheryl? Cheryl Ann?
He couldn't sleep that
night as the snowflakes
powdered the ground.

She would never see his house
or eat homemade pizza in
his newly designed kitchen
with low-slung lights
where he ate his early
morning breakfasts

The snow glowed on the
walls of his bedroom
as his mind began
to remember

What fun they'd had
sledding down the hills
and finding salamanders
in summer in the crick.

Now she had grandchildren
Billy and Nancy who hung
their heads in the Catholic
church as Christ cried softly
on the cross

If only things had been
different. She absented her-
self from the family. Think
of all the jokes they would
have told each other at
The Outback - "let me order
for you," he'd say and point
to the scallops and shrimp scampi.

He put on his best clothes for her.
For Cheryl. Cheryl Ann. A suit
and blue swirly tie that made his
green eyes look blue.

Would she have remembered his eyes? His sister
Cheryl. Cheryl Ann.

Excluded. How it hurt to be forgotten,
left out. Stung like a wasp on his
little finger.

Oh, get over it, he thought, as he
drove home in the three-inch snow. As
it melted on his windshield he turned
on his wipers, fast, then faster,
drowning out her death and wiping
away his tears.

***

I emailed my poem to my sister Lynn, who I depend upon to read my stories, and she said, Great poem.... is it fiction?

No, I said. Few people knew Scott had two sisters who are/were estranged from the family. Read Cheryl's death notice here.

Scott stopped by to tell me he was leaving at 11 am.


***

I told Scott to give me half an hour and I would write a poem about his sister. I got the first line while watching TV, a screwball comedy called The Awful Truth that Patrick (comb your hair forward) said was largely ad-libbed.

Scott emailed back this morning that the poem made him cry.

***
Marcy and I had a great conversation last night. Her mom had also had vertigo. Mine went away thru exercises I did from Willow Grove Physical Therapy. Anne Haneman was my PT. She would use endearments like "lovely lady." You've gotta have the right etiquette as well as the right technqiues.She worked very hard to get my 'crystals' in the right places.

  Marcy and I talked about conversations. She and her family went to a Vietnamese rest. where they chatted away.

I said I sure wish I could do dat. I'd like to talk to Uncle Marvin, Aunt Selma, Donny Garber, Eddie Garber, most of whom are dead.

Hey! I'm gonna call Selma now after I finish de blog. I did call but Jack was leaving for a basketball game - he's a coach - with Baldwin Wallace - ah memories! - and didn't have time to hook me up with his mom/law.

Will call back when Linda gets home. "She'd love to talk to you, Ruthie," said Jack.

I'm gonna be on a Caribbean Cruise in February so I've gotta get a good bit of The Compass done, plus submit my work to a no. of mags, including Hektoen, who like my work.

Am drinking the delicious hot coffee now - it must be hot - and my egg was esp good, a custardy affair, praps I can concoct an egg onion custard tart. I do have the proper cups that Mom gave me ages ago.

Here's my Facebook poem of the day

THE THRILL OF SNOW

Jade's new baby
was born in the
season of the snow

They drove home
from the birthing
center at 2 am

Slippery, for sure,
with snow slicked
on back roads

There's an excitement
in the air as if the
Eagles had won the
Superbowl or the
much-heralded
messiahs were
on their way

Kalie the barking dog
across the street
jumps on her porch
leashed, tilts her
white head
toward the sky
and howls, in
remembrance
of her days in
the wild.

***
Yesterday, Saturday, I had to cancel a New Directions program on Changing Negative to Positive Thoughts.

I'd invited a friend of mine, who I often see at The Town Center - The Willow Grove Giant - to attend and to show his greeting cards.

He loved the idea and said Why should people buy Hallmark when mine are better and personalized.

I told him I make my own greeting cards and he got real excited. It was nice to be validated by another artist.

How dyou make em, he wanted to know.

I'll tear off the cover of a box of Triscuits, par example, paint both sides, and then staple on a beautiful scene.

Marcy loved one I sent her which had scenes of Pennypack Trust.

***

This guy a few houses down has two kids.... Grace and Olivia. He got a new dog that he named Osborne.

He was trying to train Ozzie to pull the sled with one of his daughters in it. Didn't work, yet.

Wonder how Bill Hess is doing in Wasilla?