Tag Archives: my dad
I Knew
I’ll never forget the day—
After doctor visits
just me and him or with other family
in hospitals and waiting rooms,
examinations, procedures, and treatments
hours spent in fruitless and unavoidable worry,
we finally got the doctor’s
last words on the matter;
Whatever they decided to do
whatever dad accepted to be put through
he didn’t have much time to be here with us,
they were [...]
The Little Things
His snappy two-toned glasses
people knew him by
that sat on one end-table
and his brown briefcase that stood table-side,
can only channel his countenance as
my dad’s no longer here to use them.
Mom has moved them now
but these and other little things
that spark so many memories,
I hang onto
and quietly cherish them.
©2009 Shari Lynne Smothers
Prompt: Write a hanging poem. This [...]
The Country, Movies, Daddy and Me
I hardly remember
what the houses looked like
in Greensburg, Louisiana
where my daddy was raised.
In our brief visits
when my brothers and I
were children,
I got to experience
life very different
with cousins I didn’t know
who became friends fast,
as we usually only had the day.
They showed me where
to tiptoe close in
to yellow jacket nests
in the tall grass
just so we could run
when [...]
Lessons from a Mountaintop Experience
Death in the Family
My grandmother died March 30, 2003. It was painful and breathtaking. And then…
Maybe ten days later, my father was rushed to the ER. Blood clots were killing him. By the time I got to the hospital, dad’s heart had stopped and he’d been resuscitated twice.
The doctor working with him asked if we [...]
Yesterday
It was my parents’ anniversary.
Fifty-one years ago
they exchanged vows;
Two anniversaries now
without daddy here to count them.
I meant to ask my mom
what does the count
feel like without him.
But it sounds in my head
a little too morose even for me.
Even though, to help me understand,
she’d probably
try to
find the words to say her grief.
Hoping I’m sure that naming [...]
Graces Like Mercies
The Hard Parts
I was preparing to leave my dad’s hospital room. He was very sick with cancer and other complications. He had suffered and recovered from setbacks that required surgeries, but he couldn’t seem to shake everything. Blood clots were his problem four years earlier and he still was plagued with them. We saw him [...]
Dillard University Reunion Class of 1958
Mother’s Day with Mom
This past Mother’s Day weekend, I met up with my mother in New Orleans, Louisiana. She was there to celebrate with her Dillard University graduating class, their 50th Reunion. It is a big deal to the University as it may be at other universities as well. And it was special to classmates. [...]
