Best Sheila Poems
MY DANCE WITH SHEILA
With firm resolveI I strode across the hall
To where the girls were standing in a row
My focus: Sheila, object of heart’s call
In fervent hope that I might be her beau
The scene was set: the annual ‘soirée’
(Intoned as ‘sworry’ in our dialective)
In school hall cleared for action of the day
Gramophone wound up for music retrospective
Deemed too young for those modern ballroom new steps
We capered dances from grandparents’ time
Old fashioned waltz, Valeta and the Two-steps
Should cleanse all sensual thought from our young minds
Between polished shoes and hair in Brylcream freeze
Vain assays at ‘debonair’ were keen applied
Though short trousers revealed matching pale grey knees
Ever hopeful this aspect could be denied
Should I execute a strategy well planned
Gain my chosen partner for the final measure
We might then go out together hand in hand
To share lemonade and moments I would treasure
Decades on in life’s experience recall
All the thrills and chills of myriad times spanned
Could I re-evoque such moments pain and all
I would choose that day when I held Sheila’s hand
2 March 20
Kim Rodrigues’ DWM Contest
My heart bursts with pride
As she receives her honors
Third grade excellence.
You are a vision
Of loveliness, poise, goodness
We are proud of you.
She plays the piano at our local church
She was a first teacher who I did perch
She prays for me when I need a prayer
She talks to me like she truly does care
This teacher that I speak of so kindly
Is a loving guide who shines brightly
Sent to me from God’s own heaven
Filling me with support when I was seven
She taught me more than paper and pen
And she trained me to learn more, then
More than the words of a simple book
She explained the meaning with a look
I will always be thankful and blessed
By this teacher whom I’m impressed
October 5, 2019
Favorite Teacher or Professor Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Chantelle Anne Cooke
She looked tame, and the entire breakfast area had men in it.
I sat on a high stool directly across from her; we are in a hotel lobby.
I did not expect her to speak, but she did. “Where are you from?”
I told her Kansas City. She asked why I was here.
My granddaughter’s graduation.
She said “Guess what I made, a pecan waffle."
She jumped down to show it to the table behind me.
There were three couples there – all white haired like her.
I am a burgundy hair; I dye my white out because it makes me look old.
I am old, but do not choose to look it.
She jumped back up across from me and we ate in silence for a bit.
Okay, she ate in silence. I was eating Cheerios, so I was crunching along.
“I am burying my husband today,” she told me.
It was unexpected and startling. “I am sorry,” I told her.
“It’s okay,” she said. “You didn’t kill him or anything.”
I did not know what to say to this.
“Are you from here?” I asked her.
“I am Sheila, from Tennessee,” she told me.
“I am Caren from Kansas City,” I told her.
“That’s my family behind you,” she told me.
“They are sitting under a vent. It is too cold over there for me.”
I felt cold myself, all of a sudden.
Sheila heard that her husband was on his sailboat.
He is with another woman in the middle of the afternoon?
He was supposed to be at work.
Several friends called to tell her.
She had a friend who lived above the lake.
Asked if she could use her home to spy on him.
Sure, her friend said.
She was getting angrier every second.
Finally ran down to the beach to encounter him.
When he got off the boat, she was shocked to see.
It was not her husband; it was her son.
And his new girlfriend.
Not a great way to meet a new person.
As her face was a full-blown anger balloon.
Shattered drimz is what i have
when i think of you because i
drimz of us being together but
i have messed things up.
Hours have passed by but i will
always remember the 1st time
i looked into your eyes and
realized how special you a,
Emotions a not my strong
point so i bury them but when
it comes to you I just what to
express how much i feel for
you,
Infatuation is what some may
call it but I know I actually like
you,
Life will go on without you in
my life but my life will be
complete with you by my side,
AND envy is something i will
have for the lucky person who
you chose, i will never forget
about you but I will just have
to let you go....
I asked Sheila one day
"Why do you love me?"
She said,"I do not know?"
"You dazzle me, brilliant
You love me, but why
You do not know, a poet hmm?"
"I am not a poet, I am a woman"
"Woman loves because she loves"
"And no mathematics"
She crossed the street
And went to a kiosk
She came back with candies
All pink.
Sheila and Tony were friends at work, nothing more.
Discussing silly things, exchanging quips and tips with each other.
They had their own peculiar gestures and funny looks.
It was noticed by the others, but they were mostly older women.
Wise sages who understood the leaning in language before they did.
They are so young! The crones thought, amused.
Wisely kept the leaning in to themselves, noticing but not commenting.
For every person must discover their own love story in their own way.
Noting things often ruins them, and these were experienced women.
When Sheila shyly told the crones she was thinking about dating Tony
Entire floor of employees heard, remembering their own love stories.
Money exchanged hands, for bets had been placed months ahead.
Sheila’s co-workers are abuzz.
She is wearing another Christmas mask
I cannot believe it
She has worn a different one for twelve days in a row
Rudolph, Frosty, Dasher, Icicles, Christmas trees, snowflakes,
Elves, Santa, Mrs. Claus, North pole, gifts, wrapping paper
What could be left? What has she not worn yet?
Christmas cat, christmas pig, christmas cow, christmas card,
Christmas carolers, christmas donkeys, christmas dinosaur.
I look over at the mask-wearer.
Sheila is grinning while she writes down all of their suggestions.
Sheila was blowsy, frowsy, frumpish, dowdy.
matching her unkempt messy, sloppy abode.
gone to seed, meanies said in a nasty way.
we kids saw through Sheila’s shabby drabness.
she was entertaining and fun, and she liked children.
best of all, she had a good heart and terrific stories.
meanies could not even dream of this personality for themselves.
Sheila cleaned the microwave
And one kitchen counter and the stove top
There are ninety-three empty boxes in the corner.
She congratulated herself on what she had done
And then took a nap
Living in a mess is exhausting
This is her third nap today
Tomorrow she plans to empty the dishwasher.
Sheila lives in more than one world, traveling with delight
Yesterday she was in the Orient, flying a gorgeous Japanese kite
Today she traveled down the Amazon, petting black pumas on her way
An avid reader, Sheila journeys a new world, each and every day
Every book she opens is a potential notch off her bucket list.
Today a faerie castle popped out in a lovely lavender mist.
Sheila learns more in her chair than most travelers know to do.
She has been around the world many times, maybe twenty-two.
Sheila Bee turned herself into six clones.
Relatives got scared; things got comical.
They got a fantastic discount on their cell phones.
But their food bills were astronomical!
They played tricks on their neighbors for weeks.
Showed up as a mob at all her play dates.
Soon known in town as the craziest freaks.
Clones had to be spread out in other states.
Sheila Bee’s still thought of in a weird way.
I know because she married my brother.
Her neighbors wish that she would move away.
She is still strange one way and another.
Most beautiful creature I had ever seen
More gorgeous than ebony pumas or wild wolves
I was fascinated, and intimidated; she was the Sheila.
There was danger in knowing her.
She was the ultimate circus star; a performer.
An artesian, her traveling RV was full of hand painted beauty.
The Sheila would have travelled easily in a gypsy wagon,
except the circus manager would not tolerate it.
I think they used to be married.
She was Bohemian, confident, a woman of truth.
Her beauty astounded and confounded us.
The Sheila could do every job in the circus, and she did.
She tamed the lions and sometimes swung from a trapeze.
She was stunning; mysterious and beautiful.
It was more than enough to wow me.