Loose Leaf Notes

1st comes the heartbeat
then the search for the nectar
in the Garden of Eden
on an island called Mother

Next comes the first cry
and the need
to be rocked

I got my start in rocking cradles
Keeping time with the poem eternal
Then went on to harder stuff
Not trusting the heartbeat would last
Thinking nothing is right
unless I do it myself

Long before Elvis
and Ritlain for children
mosh pits and head banging adolescents
I was rocking!
Make her stop my siblings protested
before we’re all carsick
before ashes to ashes
the whole house falls down!

They say the autistic rock
to stimulate a part of the brain – you know,
like you shake a machine that doesn’t work right
or kick it to get back your money

Here, let me rhythm some sense into you
Let me order your chaos
Rock-a-bye baby out on a limb
when the bough breaks we all fall from grace
like London Bridge and Jack and Jill

Keeping time with the poem internal
I got my start with nursery rhymes
and catechism prayers
Blessed art thou Mother Goose
Hail Mary and Humpty Dumpty
Full of grapes and bowls full of cherries
Life is but a dream in a boat I’m a rocking

Did you know when astronauts return from space
they can’t walk without falling?
NASA puts them on bungee cords
and bounces them up and down
Like babies on a daddy’s knee
relearning gravity

I got my start with jump rope songs
hopscotch games and t.v. jingles
Strawberry shortcake cherry on the top
Tell me the name of your sweetheart
And you can have anyone you want
if you buy this product

If you go to school and pledge allegiance
80% of what you learn
is in one ear and out the other
Unless it’s put to rhyme
or some mnemonic scheme

Like I before E except after C
But remember this:
Every rule is excused by some exception
and nothing happens without a little friction

In school it isn’t cool to rock
so you shake your leg and kick your foot
Your mouth might be shut
but your body still talks

A you’re adorable
B you’re so beautiful
The ocean never went to school
Some things come natural
Like my father teaching me songs from the 40’s
Don’t sit under the apple tree
Remember what happened to Adam and Eve

Some think rocking is a form of waiting
impatiently for something to happen
or a post traumatic stress reflex
to soothe what hurts
Where were you?

Maybe it made my hair go white
when I was only thirteen
Maybe it caused my Chronic Fatigue
By the time I was twenty I was tired

Move it or loose it!
Some of us believed that
Or maybe we’re exceptions to the rule
that says: Don’t follow Jack up the hill
Don’t rock the boat / Be still

How many rockers grew up to be poets?
Or dancers? Or drummers?
Off beat? Off the wall?

I got my start in amniotic fluid
on a planet in orbit
in a primordial sea

On Earth as it is in Heaven
Everything’s rocking in rhythm
So hold down the house
if you think it will help
Because life is an up and down ride!

__________Colleen Redman 1995 / Poets United / Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads