Yearly Expanse – A Double Nonet

I look at the expanse before me

Paper squares with ordered numbers

Three hundred sixty-six days

A leap year, elections

School days, vacations

Dance, sports, band, play

Jotted down

Checked off

But

Wait

Awhile

Savor it

The drive – to, from

The conversations

The laughter and the tears

And, of course, all the yelling

One year will again go so fast.

Look at this expanse of hopefulness

A late entry for Patrick’s Pic and a Word Challenge #212 – Expanse. As 2019 draws to a close, I felt a need to describe my feelings about the upcoming year. A year seems like such a long time but the day to day living makes it go by quickly. Even these last two weeks have sped by. Every night, I’ve been asking myself, “What did I do today? Where did the hours go?”

I’m hoping to savor 2020 a little bit. The first decade of the 2000’s have brought so many changes and I feel like I need to take some time to re-evaluate what has happened, what I’m doing and where I’m going. I hope you stay with me on this next journey around the sun!

©️ iido 2019

Quiet Run – A Double Nonet

Crash boom ba dum ba dum ba dum boom

Drum practice or brothers wrestling?

Vroom vroom whee-ooo whee-ooo waah!

It’s mine! I got it first!

Stop annoying me!

Sister slams door

I tie shoes

Bye Hun

I

Run

Away

Quietly

Footsteps shushing

Faster to capture

The scent of mowed, mulched lawn

The feel of sunset’s soft breath

The taste of silent sanity

Glistening saltily on my cheek

This double nonet incorporates Patrick’s Pic and a Word Weekly Challenge #189 – Quiet and also Jamie’s Wednesday Writing Prompt to write about any sport that engages me.

I have never been a “sporty” person – I was usually one of the last people picked for teams and I was definitely the last person to finish the mile run in high school (collapsing at the end just to prove how unsporty I was!). I didn’t even know my high school had a football team until I started dating one of the players. And I only learned about the rules of the game when I started watching football in college.

My first foray into sports was running which I discovered in my early 30’s. I figured if I could walk, then I could run since putting one foot in front of the other didn’t seem to require that much coordination or other athletic ability. Yeah, right. Still, I was smitten by the race medals and the opportunity to have some “quiet me time” when I ran. As my family can attest – I am a much nicer person after a run!

©️ iido 2019

Remembrance – A Double Nonet

They don’t talk about their journey here

But I ask and Aunty beckons

I listen to memories

Hushly shared by Aunty

Of escape by sea

Bad things happen

Shhh, don’t cry

OK?

Now

Safe

We’re here

Successful

It was just war

Many forgotten

Refugees, casualties

Just be quiet, be grateful

Gone are fear and uncertainty

Aunty says just remember for me

This is my husband’s Aunt Le who shared with me her experience about how their family escaped from Vietnam – “boat people” they were called. I love listening to her stories and learning from her. Her strength and resilience is inspiring. Her memories and sacrifices will be remembered – I will make sure of that.

This poem was written for Pic and a Word Challenge #161 – Remembrance. I don’t know if Patrick picked this word because it coincided with the 100th Anniversary of the end of World War I but it bring to mind war and the repercussions of war. We often remember soldiers but forget about the other people affected by war, the people not involved in fighting yet still affected by it – refugees, peace keeping forces, doctors who help the injured, children. The effects of war are generational – for people, society and the environment.

People thought WWI would be “The War to End All Wars”. Unfortunately, this was not true. Our world continues to be plagued by wars and conflict that has cost millions of lives and displaced millions of people, wars that result in generations of trauma. When will we be able to stop killing each other so the pain and sadness of war will truly only be a memory?

©️ iido 2018