Getting Better With Time

image borrowed from bing

Getting Better with Time


She wanted to go shopping
catch the special sale, said we could
stuff a bag with items for only ten bucks
but it’s so small, the sack they handed
out when we walked in

I’m watching her
amidst the Black Friday-like mob
frantically searching the rows and rows
of clothes, she’s ditched the bag
I’m so sure, she’d said
with a flip of her hair
so long and beautiful, my little girl
born with a full head of hair

now a teenager

she proved herself hormonal
yesterday, a rush before school
dressing up for UIL
"who cares about the solo"
what matters is how she looks
on the free day without a uniform
at last
her hair must be curled just so
with ringlets on the side
it looks like shit, should’ve flattened it
a huff and a puff out the door
and I’m trying to remember;
I was just like that

The crowd’s going crazy with yellow bags
I’m feeling claustrophobic,
I find an open spot
by the shoes, under the speaker
where Leona Lewis sings
It’ll All Get Better with Time
and I’m taken back three years ago…

Mary’s suicide so unexpected
the rug being pulled out from under my feet,
the hurt, the endless questions
sucked into an empty vacuum, I was
but this song always gave me hope, still does
almost like a sign from heaven every time
I heard it on the radio,
times I needed to hear those words

Mary’s sending me a message- enjoy your daughter
she doesn’t get that special time with hers
I take off to find my girl by the slinky tees
it has gotten better with time

laurie kolp

Posted over on her site Bird's Eye Gemini
Listed as #14 over on dVerse Poets-Undercurrents