Poetics Presents

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Poetics Presents

Christine Bloom

Christine Bloom is a special educator and mother of two who resides in La Verne, California with her husband. She has been active in the Writers' Village University program for the past two years through the advanced poetry classes. She is a member of the senior poetry workshop. Christine holds a master's degree in the education of learning handicapped children, a counseling credential and several other teaching credentials. Her undergraduate degrees are in history and in English.

Summertime on Market Street

Two little girls skip down the street skirting
the lumps of tar that have dripped from the roofs
in the summer heat. One springs to a sudden stop
that tumbles them into a giggling flop.

Their search for a new coloring book has brought
them to the corner where the A& P sign flashes
and the door opens and closes to release the cool
air conditioning inside, as advertised on the window.

The little girls untie the corner of a flowered hanky.
to count coins, decide they need to search for more.
Like Indian scouts, they survey the sidewalk for loose change,
slowly, round the corner to view a treasure lying in a grate.

Plump arms squish through the grate while
knees are scraped and pretty pinafores are soiled.
The trove lies just a few inches below their reach,
pretty lips pout and then the girls eye a branch.

One secures the stick while the other grabs
a lump of sticky tar in her sweaty fingers.
Smoosh, the tar goes on the end of the twig
and they are back on their knees, hot and hopeful.

The hunt is on for pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters.
The skinny one tries this time with a sure aim
and dangles almost upside down as she
fishes down to the bottom, adheres a prize.

Slowly, she draws her skewer up to the top of the grate
as the plumper one chuckles and cheers.
Three more times and then they are done,
two pennies and a quarter added to their stash.

The little girls skip down the street,
passing the hanky wallet between them,
by-pass Kresge's five and dime
head down to the opposite corner.

Count out their change and buy
Two icy-cold, cherry snow cones.

Copyright Š2004 by Christine Bloom

In a House that Children Love

The grandfather clock ticks in the long hall.
And the wood floor still creaks in that worn spot,
where the children love to sock slide and fall.

The walls echo with the laughter and calls
of small girls playing house with tiny pots.
And the great clock ticks in the long hall

Here the tabby kitten bounces her jack's ball
off the walls until it rolls to a slow stop
where the children love to sock slide and fall.

In that corner the baby learns to crawl
to the piano bench, pulling to a stand,
while the grandfather clock ticks in the long hall.

Standing by the doorframe the boys stretch tall,
as dad marks their growth with push pins,
near where the children sock slide and fall.

Through the house runs the dog with a doll
in his mouth, as screaming girls chase him,
and the great clock ticks in the long hall
where the children love to sock slide and fall.

Copyright Š2004 by Christine Bloom