• Home
    • About
    • Masthead
    • Links
  • MER Journal
    • Latest Issue
    • Back Issues
    • Subscribe to MER!
  • MER Online
    • MER Quarterly
    • MER Literary Folios
    • Poetry
    • Fiction
    • Creative Prose
    • Essay
    • Interviews
    • Book Reviews
    • Craft
      • Authors’ Notes
    • Art Gallery
      • Special – Hybrids
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
      • MER 18 Virtual Reading – Voices From HOME
    • Currents
      • Announcements
      • Highlights
  • Shop
    • All Issues
    • One Year Subscription
    • Two Year Subscription
  • Submit
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Facebook Twitter Instagram
MER – Mom Egg Review
  • Home
    • About
    • Masthead
    • Links
  • MER Journal
    • Latest Issue
    • Back Issues
    • Subscribe to MER!
  • MER Online
    • MER Quarterly
    • MER Literary Folios
    • Poetry
    • Fiction
    • Creative Prose
    • Essay
    • Interviews
    • Book Reviews
    • Craft
      • Authors’ Notes
    • Art Gallery
      • Special – Hybrids
  • News & Events
    • News
    • Events
      • MER 18 Virtual Reading – Voices From HOME
    • Currents
      • Announcements
      • Highlights
  • Shop
    • All Issues
    • One Year Subscription
    • Two Year Subscription
  • Submit
MER – Mom Egg Review
You are at:Home»Curated»On Mothering Grown Children»Stephanie Noble – Two Poems

Stephanie Noble – Two Poems

0
By Mom Egg Review on June 14, 2018 On Mothering Grown Children, Poetry

TWO POEMS FROM STEPHANIE NOBLE

 

UMBILICUS

Umbilicus, long since buttoned, now invisible, a tightrope I walk, no safety net
one misstep

a
fall
from
grace.

 

 

 

COURTSIDE

Perched on bleachers
we watch our grandson, Number 22,
and his black-jersey teammates
play ball against a team in baby blue.

Our eyes follow the ball, hands ready to applaud
a basket, a maneuver, good sportsmanship.
My ears wrestle with the squeak of shoes
like tires on turns in a parking garage,
referee whistles, blaring buzzer.

At our side our eldest’s deep voice
Rumbles right down to the soles
of Number 22:

Focus!
           Out of control
                       Bend your knees!

His father and I look at each other,
wondering where are words like
Way to go! That’s my boy! and Good job!

Is this an inherited dearth?
Or worse, because at least
he is here to yell something.

When our team wins, we’re
swallowed up in a swelter of hugs
from beloved Number 22,

and we say all the things we wished
we’d been able to say to his dad.
The very least that we could do.


Stephanie Noble is almost every kind of mother: birth mom, adoptive mom, step mom, mom-in-law, and grand-mom. She has found these distinctions dissolve in the buoyant sea of maternal love. She has been married for 48 years to the artist Will Noble. They have four children and five grandchildren. Her poems have been published in a number of journals and anthologies including the Atlanta Review, Buddhist Poetry Review, and California Quarterly. She was a 2014 Pushcart Prize nominee. Stephanie teaches insight meditation in San Rafael, California, and is the author of Tapping the Wisdom Within, A Guide to Joyous Living. Visit stephanienoble.com.

Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Previous ArticleDevon Balwit – Poetry
Next Article Cheated by Jacqueline Doyle

Comments are closed.

March 30, 2023

Yours, Creature by Jessica Cuello

March 30, 2023

Barnflower by Carla Panciera

March 30, 2023

Mother Kingdom by Andrea Deeken

March 30, 2023

Everything’s Changing by Chelsea Stickle

March 30, 2023

Dragonfly Morning by Elina Eihmane

March 29, 2023

Coming Soon–MER Vol. 21!

March 29, 2023

April Poem-a-Day Challenge

March 29, 2023

Poem of the Month – April 2023

March 14, 2023

Save the Date! MER 21 Launch Reading May 21 in NYC

March 14, 2023

MER Online Quarterly – March 2023

Copyright © 2022 MER and Mom Egg Review
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Submit
  • Contact

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.