Birthday Card(s)
For Erika & Brian
It's not hard to say, that when a birthday card
stands side by side with others on a shelf
in your daughter-in-law's home, that the one
chosen by her father for her fortieth
is by far the largest, and looms over the rest
like a prominent mountain range.
It's not hard also to say that wherever
it stands, brazened with the force of words
like 'Amazing Woman' and 'she's faster
than a speeding taxi!' that those involved
in the giving and receiving will look long
into that ecstatic thrust of celebration.
What of birthday cards from other years?
Are they now in the corridors of the past
muttering amongst themselves in drawers
of pens, photos, ribbons and paper?
Are they ready to face a new arrival;
that 'amazing' super-hero with the look
of a multi-tasker?
In case anyone wants to know, the card
symbolises the present as it arrives
slowly in the night. Each year a new task,
each year the folding of towels, tortillas
for the mother-in-law, and the mound of
paperwork that one has to bring back
home from work.
And on the shelf the other cards with
their well-wishes, family faces
peering into them, only have one job to do
and that is to stand behind 'wonder woman'
like the heads of customers in a sale
and push her further into the future of
a 40th birthday memory.
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Helen Hagemann
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