A visit to the family cemetery is the subject of this poem. There are three generations. What makes this poem work, I think, is the different ways they each view it.  

The Family Plot

Whenever we go visit

Grandma and Grandpa

we always have to visit

a certain old cemetery.

Dad slowly steers the car

past the granite gravestones

while me and my brother

crack jokes in the back seat.

The family plot is on a hill

overlooking a stone wall.

Nice view, my brother says.

Good drainage, I put in.

Dad turns to stare at us, hard.

Grandpa says: I’ll be buried

right next to my sweetheart

and Grandma smiles at him.

There’s room for us all, Mom says

and the cheery ways she says it

makes it sound like we’ll be

camping underneath the stars.

         Have you ever moved? If you have you know that it can be an emotional time filled with quickly-changing emotions: sadness, excitement, confusion…. In this poem I try to capture the uprooted, discombobulated feeling you get when your life is moving from one town to another.

                                Taking Things Apart

        The movers start

                               by taking things apart.

                             Our table lies on the rug,

                             legless and upside down.

                           Shelves get disassembled;

                             Beds are left in pieces.

                                  One mover dismantles

                             my Ping-Pong table, saying:

                                    “Our guys in Ohio will

                           put everything back together.”

                                    Which makes me wonder

                              about my ripped-apart life.

                              Exactly who’s going to put that

                                         together again?

                                  Moving Day: Poems About Moving

           Eagle


           Eagle in the tree!
           Birds take cover; others flee.
           Eagle in the tree!

          How to Make a Snow Angel

         
          Go alone or with a best friend.

          Find a patch of unbroken snow.

          Walk on tiptoes. Step backwards

          Into your very last footprints.

          Slowly sit back onto the snow.

          Absolutely do not use your hands.

         By now you should be lying flat

         With snow fitting snug around you.

          Let your eyes drink some blue sky.

          Close them. Breathe normally.

          Move your arms back and forth.

          Concentrate. Think: snow angel.

          In a minute don’t be surprised

          If you start feeling a little funny.

          Big and small. Warm and cold.

         Your breath light as a snowflake.

          Sweep your legs back and forth

          But keep your eyes tightly closed.

          Keep moving the arms until they

          Lift, tremble, wobble or float.

          Stand without using your hands.

          Take time to get your balance.

          Take three deep breaths.

          Open your eyes.

          Stretch. Float. Fly!

                   ~ Ralph Fletcher