Speakers’Space • November 7, 2o24

Community Poem

From the prompt:
Nice and nervous November I remember

Nice and nervous November,
I remember when my dreams would make
some buckwheat pancakes and my
waking feet would search for maple syrup.

Nice and nervous November, I remember
when it seemed so easy yielding to the
quarry truckers turning eastward onto 92.

Nice and nervous November, I remember when
the big worry inside my head would be whether
my wife would like her birthday card.

Nice and nervous November, I remember when
election season didn’t make me sneeze,
on my knees, whispering, “please, please, please.”

Nice and nervous November, I remember when
we first heard that Obama had been elected president—
what a joyous and incredible moment
that lives on in my heart.

Nice and nervous November,
I remember when my worries
were the coming winter,
leaky roof repairs,
mundane things
as the hour changes.

I remember Neil Armstrong
landing on the moon,
and we thought humanity
was together.

Better to lose my memory
than remember this November.

Nice and nervous November, I remember when
the first leaf fell and I was so tired
of losing people, I caught the leaf.
I remember having faith in the soul of America.

Nice and nervous November, I remember when
my first child was due … then as now, I wonder—
will it be a boy or a girl?

Nice and nervous November, I remember
Betty bringing the potatoes to the table,
visibly shaking she was so excited.
And Jeff spilled the beans
all over the floor and then said,
“I want you to know that we’re having
a baby.” It took hours to clean up.

Nice nervous November, when I
descend into Wonderland,
the willow desert oasis,
through canyons of time,
while civil folk descend into
Election Day frankiness
(that’s frazzled crankiness).

Here we go again.
But I am here,
revering the silent stone.

Nice and nervous November, I remember
when the world wasn’t so crazy and
it was filled with much more kindness,
patience, and love.

I remember a majority of my fellow Americans
did not fall victim to movements led
by fantastically wealthy faux populists who
hoodwink gullible voters by promising to solve
a litany of problems that always seem to
involve money, immigrants, and minorities.

Nice and nervous November, I remember the car
rolling backward down the icy hill, and I was
just out of reach and so relieved when it
stopped inches from the lake.