Slice of Life post for April 2, 2024

I have so many things to celebrate this week. On Sunday my husband and I got to babysit our grandson. We had a ton of fun playing with him and I got to take him on a long walk in his stroller, something I really enjoyed.

Last night the Iowa women’s basketball defeated LSU. Wow, what a wonderful game that I actually got to watch at home. Caitlin Clark was fantastic, along with her teammates Gabby Marshall, Kate Martin, Hannah Stuelke, Sydney Affolter, A.J. Ediger, Addison O’Grady, and Kylie Feuerbach. For the most part, Hawkeyes maintained the lead throughout the entire game. Caitlin and Gabby played the entire time and Kate Martin played 39 minutes so there weren’t too many opportunities for other players to compete, but they never seemed to tire which I thought was a fantastic sign for future success.

We are losing five seniors, Caitlin Clark, Kate Martin, Gabby Marshall, Molly Davis, and Sharon Goodman this year, but I am looking forward to watching next year’s team play. Lisa Bluder and her coaching staff are outstanding; I believe they will continue to have much more success. Of course, losing someone like Caitlin will be impactful, but we have solid players who work well together and have great chemistry. I feel blessed to be able to root this team on as they will face UCONN on Friday evening. The odds are against us, but I believe our Iowa women’s team has every opportunity to win.

I also feel blessed to be a part of this writing community and the community at Ethical ELA. This month offers the challenge to write a poem each day. Bryan Crandall is today’s host, and he has an interesting although rather convoluted prompt which basically asks writers to create a magic box of chosen objects and then follow an outline sequence to generate a word list which is later combined to guide the poem’s creation. I think I got a little mixed up with the directions, but I was able to craft a poem. Of course, the minute I posted it, I saw a word I wanted to change. Oh well, such is life! I can also continue to play and revise this poem when I feel like it. You can check out today’s prompt here: The Magic Box – Ethical ELA.

Blinded

blaring bells, quelled the stricken crowd
holding wrinkled road maps calling for help
wondering if they’d ever reach home
their bloody books and buzzing breath sifted
dusty remains, ghoulish reminders
more foreboding than skeletal remains
longing for their fraying robes, broken slippers, human comfort
they savored their last shaken cigarette’s stale perfume
nervously gauging the battered van’s squealing wheels 
and the glare of a Bobblehead’s fenced-like teeth

Barb Edler
2 April 2024