For National Poetry Month, I’m sharing poems each day, one that I’ve written followed by whatever one from three sites that share a poem a day that strikes my fancy that day.

Today’s poem is another about my childhood. Initially I wasn’t going to include it, along with another one tomorrow, but here, late in the month, I’ve changed my mind. The poem is best read in desktop and sometimes lansdcape on your browser of choice.

Waiting For The School Bus

Sometimes it was as heavy as
the bookbags we toted, the trombone cases
Ed and I lugged up the stairs.

Other times words filled the spaces between us
until a passing tractor-trailer cut off our sentences,
and we fell back into it.

Twenty or more years later, I shut off the radio
on my way to work and listen to that sweet absence:
a burden I gladly bear.

Today’s poem from another website is “Speakers” by Dimitri Reyes on Poets.org, the Academy of American Poets website.