I am good at loving dying things
Old dogs, the older pear trees, foundered mares
A wren caught by the cat, rescued too late.
And teaching history, which no one cares about
Proposing doomed ideas to listless peers, and
Learning tongues five hundred people speak.
Somewhere along the line I jumped the shark
And kept on watching series that I loved
And savoring yellowed pages of my books.
We were giggling when we went to the E.R.
He passed out after having happy sex
I held his heavy arm, humming favorite songs, and then he died.
And now I put my fingers in the soil,
Caressing plants that just may die of heat
Or drown in endless rain on this our planet Earth.
Because I am good at loving dying things.
~ Barbara Kerr
Barbara Kerr, Ph.D., is the Williamson Family Distinguished Professor of Counseling Psychology and Co-Director of the Center for Creativity and Entrepreneurship Education at the University of Kansas. Dr. Kerr is the author of seven books and over one hundred articles on creativity and talent development. She is co-director of Lawrence Creates Makerspace, and has a small psychotherapy practice with creative adults. She lives on a Civil War era farm with many animals. This is her first poem.
November Editor, Ronda Miller, is the State President of Kansas Authors Club. Miller has four books of poetry: Going Home: Poems from My Life, MoonStain, WaterSigns and Winds of Time. Her upcoming children’s book, I Love the Child, will be published 12/13/2019. The book’s illustrator is Katie Wiggins, a found cousin.
The Coop: A Poetry Cooperative 