Cartoon Grief

This poem is a memory. I could have been six or a little older, I suppose. I cried so much my Dad lost patience a little. After all, just a cartoon. Actually it was not just a cartoon but also me crying for the painful reality of others on the planet - among the first times I ever did that. So it was a learning moment too. I do not think my Dad recognized it for what it was.

In just this way we can miss what is happening to other people and why so many of us often are alone in those critical moments on the planet.

Cartoon Grief

The cartoon dog lept
and bounced and licked the cartoon
boy as if love was
all there is to know.
The boy held stock still, too sad
to care, to notice,
until the little
dog turned to face us broken,
drooping hangdog drab.

Me at five, I took
that look and cried openly.
My daddy did not.

November 22, 2010 12:22 PM