Sunshiney Days by Kimberly Coverly

Sunshiney Days by Kimberly Coverly

I used to mock my mother’s sentiments,

Urges to stay home and spend time with her,

To simply sit and read a book outside,

The warming sensation of UV rays.

But I detested these times spent with her,

Instead of warming rays I saw burning sun,

Making me squint my eyes and turn bright red,

“I can’t even see the font in this light”

I used to moan and groan, wishing to leave.

Dreams of a driver’s license and freedom

Filled my head when I was forced by her side.

Where asking for a ride was unnecessary,

Window down, music blaring, friends laughing.

Yet I was stuck spending time with my mom,

Running errands, doing chores, just being.

It wasn’t good enough for my teen self,

I needed excitement and adrenaline,

Not quality bonding time with mother.

How stupid I was to ruin those moments,

Minutes with matriarch I can’t get back.

Hours I long for here in Oregon,

Fifteen hours away from my family.

Excessive hormones caused this travesty,

Worse than all the pimples and growing pains,

Was the disgust found in my responses.

An attitude was always prevalent,

But it was never deserved by mother.

Now I sit and read novels to her,

Sunshine warming my heart and my body.

“What should we do tomorrow? Day and Night.”

 _________________________________________________________________________________

Early Sunday Morning by Edward Hirsch

I used to mock my father and his chums

for getting up early on Sunday morning

and drinking coffee at a local spot

but now I’m one of those chumps.

No one cares about my old humiliations

but they go on dragging through my sleep

like a string of empty tin cans rattling

behind an abandoned car.

It’s like this: just when you think

you have forgotten that red-haired girl

who left you stranded in a parking lot

forty years ago, you wake up

early enough to see her disappearing

around the corner of your dream

on someone else’s motorcycle

roaring onto the highway at sunrise.

And so now I’m sitting in a dimly lit

café full of early morning risers

where the windows are covered with soot

and the coffee is warm and bitter.