Value —from the Proverbs of Tharmas Erthona

[milo]

Grace us with it milo. It's my thread
and I give you the go ahead, so go ahead.

Helping my mother move out of the family home

Two flights of stairs

and who'd have thought she'd bother
moving after all these years, "without your father
I just don't need the space and there's 
the lawn, the boiler, keeping up on stuff."

I've got the heavy end, her old couch friction-burns
my palms as my brother
guides around the turns
then two more trips - 2 lamps an "antique plate",

my mother whispers through the psalms 
(She got it down at Kmart for $1.88)
until my brother cries -enough-

My mother calms,
"Take a break, after all it's hot."
On the concrete stoop we drink a beer
and stare at ants that march around the gate.

She told me once - an ant can lift 10 times his weight
But that's OK, they don't look like they weigh a lot.

BTW has everybody written their required Butterfly poem? If you haven't then you've missed something and will need to go back and get it, plus the butterfly poem of course. There are other require poem, but none as required as the butterfly poem.

dale

From a different NaPM:

Monarch


First the worm and then the wormy chrysalis
I inch the pistils; silky, larval mass. I envy this:

the speed of the black cobra's missile-kiss,
the fissile-tongued poison thistle hiss. But no,

it is the ten day waiting as a bean green fava bean
until I break the seam,
stretch my newfound wings in newborn light
then burst to flight
a queen.

These are excellent. I really like the Helping My Mother... one.

And yeah, ants are wicked strong. I read they can lift far more than just 10x. Something like 50x or 100x.

As strong as they seem, I could lift more than 1000x an ant's body weight.
Glad you liked the poems, perhaps they warrant revision.