The Popcorn Chronicles

I was looking back through some things I'd written the other day and found forgotten treasures. When I was in junior high, I started writing things down so that I'd have a way to remember them... remember how they felt... how I felt... later on. For some of those impressions, I used my teddy bear, Popcorn, to get the thought out of my head and onto the paper. A decade after he first became my muse, he was adopted by my eldest. Here are some of "The Popcorn Chronicles: A Bear's Coming of Age and Back Again"

Weather Report

Popcorn knows it will rain
when clouds cover the whole sky
so evenly you can't tell they're clouds.

*March 1980*


Music Lovers

Popcorn likes to listen
to the stereo with me.
He likes the music
that I like to listen to.
I can tell he likes it
by the smile
on his fuzzy white face.
I like to listen with him
because he doesn't interrupt.
He just sits quietly...
and listens with me

*March 1980*

Tree Watching

Popcorn likes the way
some trees blush
before they bare themselves.
Some just go pale
at the thought.
But he feels sorry
for those that simply
wither away
with no show at all...

*November 1983*

Kudzu

Popcorn has noticed,
Much to his amazement,
That kudzu can do to a forest,
In just a few decades,
What it takes water eons to do
To a mountain.

*August 1994*
(recalled from a trip to Vicksburg)


A New Beginning

I look at you now, beloved friend,
Recalling days of wisdom without end.
Once was Popcorn my playmate dear.
Now you're my child's "Mommy Bear."

Will you tell her tales of blushing trees
And the amazing power of kudzu seas?
Will you share the songs she likes to sing
And tell her about the rain that clouds bring?

Will you hear her heart's desire
Or how today she swung on a tire?
Will you listen as she says her prayers,
O, Popcorn mine, O, Mommy Bear?

*July 1998*