Long Ava Poems

THE MANY PATRON SAINTS OH HOW I RELY ON SAINT ANTHONY DURING THE DAYS OF REACHING FOR SOLACE FOR PEACE OF MIND REMEMBERING ME BEFORE TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY THEN I COULD THREAD A NEEDLE REMEMBER...

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As owner of a business chain, I was in need of an assistant,
One with a very good memory, who was pleasant and consistent.

I knew there were many people, who possessed those qualities,
But I'd always wanted...

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Sunflower Meadows was a place of mystical beauty, green and abloom.
That's where seven-year-old Ava lived, like laughter and spicy perfume.

Ava lived with her parents and three siblings, like stars dance together;
And she loved golden, nursery...

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Love is a season.
And holidays mark the seasons, and years like signs in the road,
reflecting the bumps in our journey, but showing us a way back home.

Sixteen, in pajamas, watching the rain pelt down,
it was...

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Walking through the tall pines of Perlarcher forst 
Munich Germany I walk deep within the woods 
every day the barbarian alps in my view colorful 
leaves rustle beneath my feet my London fog 
trench coat...

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Violet Smith lived in Center Kingdom. Her neighbors were Jack and Jill;
Like orange sun, of a pink morning, when it's just peeking over blue hills.

With Mother and Father and sister, Ava, Violet enjoyed life on...

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There are seven Democrats and even one Republican that are firmly against the USA's continue funding of a strategic Israel's defensive protection.  The USA has been providing Israel, in the past, with the necessary...

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you remember that one time when ava fell off the swings and cut her knee?
how everyone laughed at her for her childish hubris in thinking she could jump and land,
unscathed, from that high a distance?
how...

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“The devil is alive”, someone yelled out. A congregation downing crosses crossed their hearts and prayed to God to extinguish the devil. Right then and there, a sensation ran from my toes to my head...

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I pass it every time Ava has a home volleyball game 
and It makes me wonder about fate..
It’s a tree…growing outside my old classroom…planted in 1988.

It was for one of my Autistic students that this...

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My path beyond the shores of time
from life to there are maritime ripples.
Harrowing blades of rain
hammered from storm-clouds shatter puddles
of glass to rolling streams of echoes,
Misery’s trail towards cleansing waters:

A bloody throat gasping for water...

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As the years passed by, father trusted my upbringing to a nurse while he nursed his wounds with drops of liquor. In the first six years of my existence, he never once spared me a...

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Do not go back he said and for what.
To a childhood time many moons ago in Ireland
In a field of cocks of hay and a very hot summer day 
Being stung by two bees on...

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Today was a different day for Deborah and I…let me now review…
We decided to attend a funeral of a person we never knew…

To understand our reasoning…why this is not as crazy as it appears…we must...

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Oftentimes, I found myself watching children playing outside through cracks on my window. They looked so happy and free. But it was not their silly monkeying around that captivated me, it was their flowing, long...

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Our two youngest grandchildren visited yesterday…Aden is 18 and Ava turns 16 in September…we opened a time capsule made 12 years ago and took time to remember.

I sat there for a moment thinking about time...

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There was a time when I had more hair and I was, I imagine, a little thinner…when our family gathered around one table to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner.

But as our family grew and our table didn’t…as...

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I remember how I loved babysitting our grandchildren 
how neatly they fit into my arms.
I remember being impressed with their intelligence and captivated by their charms.

How they would spend the night with us…how we’d make...

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When Ali asked me to help her find a used car for Ava I thought, “She’ll thank me forevermore!”  because this is exactly the kind of thing we parents were created for.

Wanting to show...

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On a modern playground out by the Bayou
no see-saws, no merry-go-rounds to be seen-
Too dangerous, I'm guessing as we head to the swings
and I push her to the tops of the trees
I sing. And sing:
"Yellow...

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Today was a special day for us…for Ava our granddaughter…
and for our friend Kim…who happens to be a jeweler too
but this is a story that begins 16 years ago…so let me now review:

That’s when Ava,...

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Our granddaughter’s playing soccer again…she’s the goalie on her team
and in some ways as I watch her…it’s like I’m reliving a dream….

You see I grew up thinking I was an athlete…what other conclusion could I...

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I watched Ava’s soccer game the other day 
and amidst the excitement…the applause…the cheers
I realized I’ve been watching our children and grandchildren play soccer…for over 40 years.

The rules of the game haven’t changed…
nor have the...

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Have you ever sat or laid down
Deep in thoughts that float 
Into your mind and your imagination
Creates a movie

What if those thoughts made you think
About your ancestors and what kind of life they had
Putting yourself...

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Over the years watching Deborah bake cookies with our children and grandchildren
has always been a treat…
because after they do all the work…I get all the cookies I can eat.

Her cookies have been eaten in our...

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