Trying not to forget
as I forget
as the small picture appears
how small she appears
only a few months ago
when she was two months old
how different the face
in the same face
taking shape anew
a smile is a shape
I will always recognize
the heart the same size
growing as eyes
see you unknown anew
Tag: DadPoem
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OctPoWriMo 24
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OctPoWriMo 16
Everything my daughter
needs to know
about the father
I would like to be
might be summarized
in the verse or two
of the hymn I could not sing
with her in my arms
stunned into teary silence
not by the words
but at the melody
included in the service
the day her parents found
hope in each other’s dreams
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OctPoWriMo 9
We have noticed when reading a book she knows how it works how the pages turn a result of hands gesturing this way sometimes she pauses midway to see if it will fit in her mouth sometimes she just keeps the pages open that her hands might clutch or grasp the waves the air is making between print and eyes she knows the tactile form this all takes a part of herself waits holding
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SeptPoWriMo 29
Now by the time
we can tell
by the little blue
screen not far
from our laps
if the not turning
around means asleep
we open our other
pocket screens
to view stages
unseen since we
took them in this one
she laughs more than
in this one where
she is half
the size she is now
we calculate
how much time
has passed between
how old we are now
how loose the skin
now rounded out
unrecognizable
from one to the next
except this is the face
we expect upon waking
to face us
smiling all traces
of replay erased
another moment
placed us in this
space between one
sleep and the next
how awake we may
say this is the place
we expected you
to grow into this face
glowing again
just to see us
see you giggling awakes
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SeptHaikuWriMo 11
I risked waking up
a sleeping child today when
the window showed me
a creature without
human accompaniment
and then another
I saw they were deer
through the steam and window shade
trudging thru the yard
and into the road
a car put its blinkers on
as they galloped down
the hill escaping
the frame of my camera
I fell back amazed
to my seat the child
remarkably stayed asleep
and slept a bit more
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SeptHaikuWriMo 4
Already I feel
the weight of days passing by
without a second
thoughts I might have had
were it not for radiant
change within our cells
how does the body
keep happening in this way?
how does the descent
let us forget not
without incident only
this face staring back
I would not be here
without this tense this presence
the future better
having you with us in it
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AugPoWriMo 24
Time to record
one of those dreams again
this time the three month old
started speaking not only
in perfect sentences
but with advanced vocabulary
far beyond my ken
to recreate at this late date
and when the baby spoke
it was obvious in
an extraordinary way
the participants in the dream
just kept on dreaming
meanwhile later this morning
I spoke the words I love you
to the three month old
with such conviction
and variation of voice
so as to encourage development
of brain function
far beyond my ken
the baby recreated the syllables
as if knowing precisely
the intended meaning
and how far beyond it reaches
such that there is no question
when asked we should speak
knowing far beyond our ken
the words within our reach
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AugPoWriMo 18
That feeling when you realize
the music that formed you
in your formative years was
nearly some forty years ago now
thanks to hours of some songs
played on a radio not in your town
but in your former hometown
which formed you and you haven’t found
a fitting replacement you make sure
your phone is still streaming said
music as you walk in the door and dance
with your almost four month old
hold me now in your eyes hands and feet
the light the heat I am complete
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AugPoWriMo 14
If nothing else
so far
at least our child
is comfortable
saying
whatever comes to mind
while staring
in wonder
at the trees going by
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AugPoWriMo 10
To think that these pictures
capture the same creature
sleeping in the other room
at a recent previously
appointed point in time
aging apparently at the same rate
as these tired maybe middle aged
faces growing younger all the time
a match for that slight inflection
the world not quite as it was
when you arrived even better
now we know how much improved
it will be having you in it
evidence our souls met your spirit
Joshua Keiter 