Neighborhood Walk (A Poem by Cathy Gruman)

Early morning walk to the coffee shop
through my neighborhood, just a few blocks away
This time passion tea with slices of orange
Coffee’s on the shelf for a while,
results of this are pending.
And as I walked I thought about my neighbors
of whom I do not know
Street to street I walked
iTunes snuggled in my ear,
with a mix of songs I like to hear
Each street had its own special glow
Pretty houses with green, brown, yellow, blue, gray, red and orange
and sidewalks lined with flowers and rocks
English gardens and desert landscapes
chairs on porches neatly swept.
I sent good thoughts and silent prayers,
for their happiness and lessened tears.
My son’s window I tapped with a pebble
The curtains opened
I saw his smile
he stumbled to the door from his sleep.
with tousled hair and open arms, we embraced and said I love you
then I continued down the street.
I should mention that it made my day.
I stopped at a yard sale and bought a hand-made pillow cover
from a fellow who held a “Diva Yard Sale” sign
It had yellows, blues, greens and cream in between
We spoke a while, he shared his dreams
Just neighbors, nothing in between.
Then we parted with a smile
And as I walked up to my place
warm thoughts of my neighbors were on my face.

My Trike (a Poem by Cathy Gruman)

that's my trike
grrrrrhhhh
don't let my low growl fool you
you're sitting on my trike
grrrrrrr.....
you're bigger than me
but i'm watching you
and when you move
i'll move
faster than lightening
and snatch it back
let's walk to the duck pond
i'll drag my trike
grrrrrrhhhhh
you can walk with me
but don't touch my trike
i'll ride it when i want to
put my feet on the pedals
when i want to
i'll ride it backwards
and drag my feet
if i want to
slowly we walk to the pond
to see the turtles and the ducks
hold my trike while i play with the ducks
but don't go anywhere
because i'll find you
grrrrrhhhh....
you're all surrounding me
but back off on my trike
or i'll strike.

Snowflake Day (A Poem by Cathy Gruman)

Snowflakes falling
tires treading
we're tromping on this february afternoon;
through the streets our boots will take us
to where we find our vegan treats.
Store facades and buildings stand
to greet us in this new land.
The snow keeps falling on our face
as we're tromping through
with giddy awe of this new place.
A cup of coffee we will find,
the lack of soy puts me in a bind
and you start to wind.
Artwalk studio
lots of fun
for a while
then I'm done;
keep on looking is what you do
so i go outside to tie my shoe
but it's cold so i come back in
my feet are wet
so I whine again.
Vegan store
Eureka!
We go inside
in our new diets we will abide
casing the store
we look around
alas, a wall of "sweets"
we love this town.