Let me read you a poem

I have been wanting to do this for awhile. A mini podcast of sorts, a la The Slowdown. Pick a poem, talk about what the poem means to me, read the poem. So this is the first of a series, the frequency of which is yet to be determined. I hope you like it.

I was dog sitting for a family I really liked from the start. They met with me well before they needed me and booked me for a couple of walks with their puppy before their actual trip so he (and they) would be entirely comfortable with me. It was their first time apart.

It was one of the first times dog sitting for someone that I thought “huh, I could be friends with them.” They were kind, had good politics, and they had great taste in art and books. I loved Kate Baer’s poetry whenever I came across it but hadn’t really dug in. And Yet, the collection with this poem was on their bookshelf and I read a few poems every morning I was at their house, before the puppy and I started our day. The page with this poem, was dog eared and clearly well loved.

Idea by Kate Baer

I will enjoy this life. I will open it

like a peach in season, suck the juice

from every finger, run my tongue over

my chin. I will not worry about clichés

or uninvited guests peering in my windows.

I will love and be loved. Save and be saved

a thousand times. I will let the want into

my body, bless the heat under my skin.

My life, I will not waste it. I will enjoy this life.