Just What We Always Wanted (a poem about gift giving)

Hells Bells

Location: Heart of the Heart of the Country
Birthday: February 01

Bio: Book editor, parent, MFA in poetry from a land far, far, away--and a long, long time ago . . . I'm not a psychologist, but I play one on TV.

MY RECENT POSTS

Mom Always Liked You Best
September 19, 2011 04:53PM
First Blog, Fernsy OC
August 08, 2011 01:58PM
Dreaming of Tornadoes?
April 21, 2011 01:46PM
Not Dead Yet
March 07, 2011 04:06PM
Paint, or Fatal Flaws
January 25, 2011 02:05PM

MY RECENT COMMENTS

“The best thing about that movie was that HE CHASED HER.”
February 15, 2012 02:19PM
“I like the light and dark here quite a bit.”
February 09, 2012 02:07PM
“Hi, Ann! Thanks for this post. I've got one of those soft splits. Also a c-pap ma…”
February 09, 2012 02:03PM
“My own mother took care of herself, with some inadequate and constantly shifting…”
October 12, 2011 03:16PM
“I like how your early event dovetails into current event(s). And I remember the P…”
October 12, 2011 03:10PM

Hells Bells's Links

About teaching and learning: Why Haiku Suck and What You Should Do About It; But Isn't It All Just Subjective Anyway?
Oh, come on, it wouldn't kill you to read a poem: Short Fiction; The Passage (Sestina); My Mother Walks Ahead of Me; Self-Portrait with Fox, Crow, and Fish; Just What We Always Wanted; The Passion of Snow; On Adak Island; The Accidental Poetry of Alzheimers; The Vireo (Villanelle); Paint; My Hat; Loving the Unpoetical Midwest; Space Within (Bridge Poem); The River Goes; Filmstrip
Memoir, or something like it: The Amazing Plaid Bomber Jacket; Goodbye, Bipolar Brother; The Happiest Day of My Life; Murder for Hire: Working for the Hit Man Publisher; Civilly Disobedient and Proud of It on the Fourth of July; How I Became a Poet; Harry Harlow's Monkey Studies and Me; Scratch the Surface, Open a Vein; Lamborghini Murcielago vs. Honda Civic; Charles Manson Murderers Are After Us
The infamous bipolar child series: Living with a Bipolar Child; Why I Wrote the Bipolar Child Story; The End of the Bipolar Child Story

« Back to Posts

DECEMBER 8, 2009 5:12PM

Rate: 17 Flag

wrapped_gift_photo

It was our birthday

or Christmas. Bar mitzvah,

graduation, a special occasion

--it doesn't matter which one.

We wanted to tear off the paper,

and have it be perfect,

just what we always wanted,

however did you know?

We wanted to swim out

far and deep,

way past the buoys,

then drown in our own delight.

But it was gloves again,

or a meat-pounder,

or some toy we already had.

Whatever it was,

it wasn't what we'd hoped for:

It just reminded us

how fat we'd grown

how bad we looked in orange,

how nothing was as good

as seen on TV.

More than anything,

we wanted our parents,

our friends, our lovers

to rescue us--to calibrate

their instruments

precisely, to brave fog

and 30-foot swells,

not to call off the the search

till they found us,

clinging to flotsam,

still alive in the ocean.

Author tags:

christmas, family, longing to be found, gift giving, poetry

Your tags:

TIP:

Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!

Comments

Post a comment

It really WAS a meat pounder.

Hells Bells

December 08, 2009 05:15 PM

Trade your meat pounder for my E-Z chop?

mypsyche

December 08, 2009 05:46 PM

This was beautifully written.
"gloves again"! ahhhhhh

trilogy

December 08, 2009 05:51 PM

I believe you've said it perfectly. Sorry about the meat pounder.

C.K. Dexter Haven

December 08, 2009 05:54 PM

And the meat pounder was given to me by my father, as I was headed off to college (!)

Hells Bells

December 08, 2009 06:07 PM

I got some Jeff Foxworthy pajamas that have redneck jokes all over them. I'm wearing them now. Yes, I look like an idiot!I love the meat pounder!
R~

scanner

December 08, 2009 06:09 PM

Wow. Good poem.

Gwendolyn Glover

December 08, 2009 06:12 PM

That calibration is so hard won, in so many cases, if it happens at all. This completely "gets" the desire. And I'll trade you an Amy Grant CD for the meat pounder.

Owl_Says_Who

December 08, 2009 06:23 PM

OMG, everyone has received the metaphorical meat pounder! I'm so glad not to be alone in all this . . .

Hells Bells

December 08, 2009 06:28 PM

I love this poetry...a meat pounder!? interesting. Was that some kind of Freudian slip? Maybe your father wanted you to use it as a weapon?? In any event, your poetry captures the essence of the wanting .
Rated

julie Kiernan

December 08, 2009 06:34 PM

How about a arm pedometer. Is that a hint or what. That said, wonderful poem, beautifully expressed. R

rita shibr

December 08, 2009 06:36 PM

Rita--I assume you WANT a pedometer, but as a gift, it's tricky, isn't it? I mean, it sort of says you NEED one. Or maybe it just means someone really, really cares about keeping you around?

Hells Bells

December 08, 2009 06:41 PM

I was born with a meat pounder. Luckily.
This is nice HB :)

tr ig

December 08, 2009 07:27 PM

Christmas season sometimes saddens me. Your poem writes well of the emotions that come with the Christmas season. I learn much you, my favorite poet. ~R~

Chuck A. Stetson

December 08, 2009 07:38 PM

If the thought doesn't count for something, then we're all in trouble.

jimmymac1025

December 08, 2009 09:12 PM

Maybe your dad meant it as a protection measure. Just sayin'.

Great poem, though. The phrase "drown[ing] in our own delight" is perfect, and it's contrast with the ending very neat.

AtHomePilgrim

December 09, 2009 06:13 AM

Damn. I just bought the girls gloves (yet again)! Loved the poem.

scupper

December 10, 2009 06:15 AM

Truly beautiful poem.
rated

micalpeace

December 10, 2009 05:07 PM

This especially hit home out here with the 30-foot swells and an ocean ahead of me. We can all identify with the disappointments you so eloquently render here.

Lea Lane

December 12, 2009 07:11 AM

30-foot swells? Look, I'll take back the meat pounder and we'll call it even.

Steve Blevins

December 25, 2009 07:18 PM

Thanks a lot for sharing the article on poem. That's a awesome article. I enjoyed the article a lot while reading. There are lots of information about on poem that also could be awesome.