Love Poems

Every week at least one person asks me, "Are you writing anything these days?" They assume that I'm working on another book (I always have at least one in progress) or that I've got a column or article about to be published in some journal or magazine (perhaps). But I must confess that it's been tough writing longer works given the time demands of the church and this stage of life that comes with having two teenagers at home. However, I have been writing a lot of love poetry to my wife lately. Great stuff. Heavy breathing verse. My lines often make her swoon in public.

My hot petunia,
We are out of cottage cheese,
And bread, and peanut butter.
When are you going to Wal-Mart?
I pine for a sweet roll,
Something soft and delicate, like you.
Leave me a note
For our paths shall pass again tonight at eleven.

Or this one:

You are the fabric softener of my life.
You, loading the whites and solids.
Me, stuffing mounds of dirty BVDs down the chute.
I think of you as you set the rinse cycle.
My dumpling . . . when can we go for another spin?

It has been lines such as these that have earned my wife's devotion and loyalty through the years. She knows I care. Sometimes we actually talk. Yes . . . I am writing. I have my agent on high alert. And one of these days I'm going to write something so stupendous that my wife will want to read it.