a Presidential address

Words of promise and too-optimistic hope
travel on a sheet of well-rehearsed  silk
Covering the collection of people who have gathered
Hoping to take away just one message, thought, or sentence,
wanting to put it in their pockets to store in their arsenal of good-intentions
and "one-day" wishes.
A vague statement to withdraw from an account
of well-meaning one-liners.

Cat nip for the quote saps.

But I don't see a politician speaking.

It's my High School principal,

speaking in front of a crowded stadium filled with barely-adults

clad in red tents and cardboard hats.

She's telling us that today is great,

but it's tomorrow that matters.

I look around.

Waiting for others to catch on to the 

anthropomorphic properties of our elected official.

But they're recalling their own histories.

I'm writing mine. 

Emily Martin

Aug 28, 2012

Ballerina Dreams

I take daily comfort in knowing that somewhere,

someone who once called themselves a writer,

still finds pleasure in carefully constructing grocery lists.

She used to be a dancer

but now the only choreography she knows

is the syncopated rhythm of her children’s schedules

The grace it takes to make stir-fry

while re-learning algebra.

and enough rehearsal etiquette to realize that

tomorrow she’ll have to start all over again.

Plagued by unfulfilled strings of ambition

she wonders if the life she has

is her punishment for not working harder,

being more dedicated,

or drawing the line when

“what it takes” was too much for the reward.

She drops her child off at dance class

wondering why no one ever warned her. 

Emily Martin

Sept 11, 2012