The Total Femme

(With a tip of the cursor to Marilyn Hacker for her marvelous book, Love, Death, and the Changing of the Seasons.)

You’re playing Uno – waterproof – upstairs,
with Owen, splashing, pruney, in his bath;
it makes me smile to hear your belly laugh
and Owen’s giggly, happy, high-pitched, “No fairs!”
You built a grind box with our boys – a what?
Seth found the plans online, a skater’s site;
All three, you sawed, you glued, you vised.
Dear Beau, you teach us all the joy of put-
tering, of gardening, of caring for the yard;
With you the boys can wrestle, tickle, throw
around the ball until I call you in
for supper: light the candles, see them glow!
We eat, they clear, we play a hand of cards;
We four, this love, this peace, this blessed kin.