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I.
Today I’m sharing a poem from one of my birthday cards, the one chosen by my 8-year-old grandson… “because Grandma likes poems.”

A Poem for My Grandma
on Her Birthday
Like jelly
  needs toast,
and cocoa
  needs mugs…

Like cookies
  need milk,
and boo-boos
  need hugs…

Like bedtimes
  need stories–
(at least one or two!)
Every kid needs a grandma
as special as you!

II.
The morning after my birthday, I jotted down a few lines in my journal:

We gathered for tall ice cream cones.

Choices?  Cookies & cream, mint chocolate chip, french vanilla, Tillamook mud slide. We each have our favorite.

The occasion? Celebrating my birthday. Present were twenty; absent were seven. There were cards and flowers, a balloon and brightly wrapped packages. There was laughter and chatter. There were hugs and more hugs. But there were no candles. Too many, said one of the little ones. The wind would blow them out, said another. So I held high my towering cone of mint chocolate as they sang to me.

III.
Out of the words in my journal, a poem emerged–

For tall ice cream
Cones, they gathered
In the backyard.
Present were twenty,
Absent were seven.

Choices we had– 
Cookies & Cream,
Mint Chocolate Chip,
French Vanilla,
Tillamook Mudslide.

There were hugs.
There was chatter
And laughter,
And I love you
With Happy Birthday.

There were cards
And flowers,
A unicorn balloon
And brightly
Wrapped packages.

But there were no candles.
Too many, said one
Of the little ones.
The wind would blow
Them out, said another.

So, as they sang,
I smiled and
held high
a towering mint
chocolate chip cone.

© 2019, Alice Nine (draft)



This week’s
#PoetryFriday Roundup
is hosted by
Sylvia (and Janet) at
Poetry for Children
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Poetry Friday Roundup Schedule

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