Meeting My Grandson in Regensburg/ Cheerios in Bed in Berlin/ A Voice Speaks Late of You, three poems by Norbert Krapf
Three poems by Norbert Krapf:
Meeting My Grandson in Regensburg
A whole Popo
cupped in a hand
a tiny heart beating
against my chest
and puffs of breath
kissing my neck,
I look down upon
an innocence asleep
and would live
long enough
to love and protect
and sing it forever.
Cheerios in Bed in Berlin
You are in bed in Berlin and smiling
brightly as you hold a yellow box
of American Cheerios your Colombian
mother bought you as special treat.
In the next frame your head is tilted
and thrown back, mouth wide open,
as you salivate your circles of O oats!
Little things delight you the most.
Little man who savors what is small
and not always easy or cheap to find,
you readily give yourself to showing
how deeply you appreciate what
comes your way. Your smile is your
expression of gratitude, your thanks
come out baked half German, half English,
and your Love is expressed Wuff-oooh!
You don't want to be anywhere else.
Your favorite munchies are in your mouth.
The right light fills both your dark eyes.
You love the world wherever you are in it.
A Voice Speaks Late of You
Little one, I was listening to voicemails
and came to a voice no longer here
except in this last deep-breath message.
This was Louis, your great-uncle,
near the end of his life, summoning
whatever breath his lungs could give.
The message came from a Veteran's Home
in southwestern Louisiana in response
to the picture your grandmother sent to him.
In a low voice full of late gratitude, Great-Uncle
Louis slowly voices his appreciation of you,
your coming, your presence, your being
with us here as he was about to leave us.
The sound of his voice is more than half full
of a world beyond this one calling him there.
Great-Uncle Louis says you are a beautiful child.
He implies more than he says, lets us know
he welcomes your sweet sacred presence.
This is the testimony he left behind for you.
This is a recording of his voiced welcome to you.
This is my poem embedded with his love for you.
Meeting My Grandson in Regensburg
A whole Popo
cupped in a hand
a tiny heart beating
against my chest
and puffs of breath
kissing my neck,
I look down upon
an innocence asleep
and would live
long enough
to love and protect
and sing it forever.
Cheerios in Bed in Berlin
You are in bed in Berlin and smiling
brightly as you hold a yellow box
of American Cheerios your Colombian
mother bought you as special treat.
In the next frame your head is tilted
and thrown back, mouth wide open,
as you salivate your circles of O oats!
Little things delight you the most.
Little man who savors what is small
and not always easy or cheap to find,
you readily give yourself to showing
how deeply you appreciate what
comes your way. Your smile is your
expression of gratitude, your thanks
come out baked half German, half English,
and your Love is expressed Wuff-oooh!
You don't want to be anywhere else.
Your favorite munchies are in your mouth.
The right light fills both your dark eyes.
You love the world wherever you are in it.
A Voice Speaks Late of You
Little one, I was listening to voicemails
and came to a voice no longer here
except in this last deep-breath message.
This was Louis, your great-uncle,
near the end of his life, summoning
whatever breath his lungs could give.
The message came from a Veteran's Home
in southwestern Louisiana in response
to the picture your grandmother sent to him.
In a low voice full of late gratitude, Great-Uncle
Louis slowly voices his appreciation of you,
your coming, your presence, your being
with us here as he was about to leave us.
The sound of his voice is more than half full
of a world beyond this one calling him there.
Great-Uncle Louis says you are a beautiful child.
He implies more than he says, lets us know
he welcomes your sweet sacred presence.
This is the testimony he left behind for you.
This is a recording of his voiced welcome to you.
This is my poem embedded with his love for you.
About
Norbert Krapf: The
former Indiana Poet Laureate is the author of eleven poetry
collections and The
Return of Sunshine: Poems by a Laureate for Ecstatic Grandparents.
He is the winner of a Glick Indiana Author Award, a Creative Renewal
Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis, and he collaborates
with bluesman Gordon Bonham. More: www.krapfpoetry.com.