NPMC 19-21: 3 Different Views of Love

Time to make more headway in finishing my 30 poem challenge, which should have been completed in April, National Poetry Month. 

In a way, these are each about love.

NPMC Poem 19

 "The Challenge"

Danger surrounds us
steep slippery stairs
delightfully deep pillows
sharp corners
hooks that snag
strings that dangle and sway
waiting to catch
your untrained limbs
bruise your soft head

the fairy tale of baby making
skips this part
the deeper truths of creating
little humans
the challenge

responsibility is a word
not weighty enough to describe
keeping you alive
and unscathed

and as you age and grow
physical dangers give way
only to emotional ones
psychological ones

there is no corner bumper
no safety lock
or amount of acceptable helicoptering
that can prevent a broken heart
nor band-aids for wounded egos
nor medicine for skewed self perception

there is only effort
only warnings
the hands and words
of a mother who knows
she can damage you far more
if either overreach

NPMC Poem 20
"Primitive Summer"

On lazy summer days
I sometimes long
for a more primitive time
when hours could be spent
sorting berries and tracking prey
pausing to breath in the sun
to taste its life-giving rays
breaking in the shadow of a hickory
to lap cool water
directly from an untainted stream
and rest our heads in the long soft grass
and fall in love all over again
beneath the chirping of the sparrows

NPMC Poem 21
"Never Incomplete"

You complete me
what a useless phrase
We were never incomplete husks
wandering around
falling apart like jigsaw puzzles
incomplete
There was never a hole
or missing half
just one of me
and one of you
and a bit of potential
waiting to be ignited
to be heated to a passion
worthy of forging something
that needs multiple working parts

You don't complete me
You make me something new