James Babbs- Three Poems

She Used to Ride Horses

the first time I saw her

I thought she looked familiar

but I wasn’t certain

it took me a little while

but when she came closer

and I saw her smile

I remembered who she was

I told her

you used to ride horses

she said yes

but that was years ago

when I was just a teenager

I nodded my head

but didn’t say anything

caught up in visions of the past

I watched her all over again

riding on the back of her horse

beneath the warm afternoon sun

her long dark hair

cascading over her shoulders

when I looked at her again

I suddenly noticed

how short her hair was

do you still ride I asked

she laughed

and it made a lovely sound

that seemed to linger in the air

no she said

not for a long time

oh I said

and I nodded again

I live in town now she said

the old griffin place

okay I told her

I know where that is

maybe I’ll see you around

she slowly nodded her head

sure she said

it’s not a very big town

I laughed again

rubbed the side of my face

well okay she said

I guess I’ll see you later

I said yeah

later

then watched her walk away

Some Days Are Better Than Others

I passed a lot of trucks

out on the highway

tonight

some of them covered

with brightly-colored lights and

I could see them

miles ahead of me

moving through the dark

I was driving back home

after visiting my Mom

Tuesday night

at the nursing home and

she can’t feed herself

anymore

she can no longer use her hands at all

but her mind’s still sharp

81 years old and

when I’m getting ready to leave

she asks me

when I’m coming back

soon

I tell her

soon and

some days are better than others

sometimes

I catch myself

wondering where I’ll end up

if I manage to live

as long as she has

but it’s not something

I really like to

think too much about

When I Broke the Cookie Open

after returning home

from stuffing myself

at the Chinese buffet

I felt the quick

rush of excitement

the fortune inside read

a shooting star tonight

will bring you good luck tomorrow

and for some reason

instead of throwing it away

like I would’ve normally done

I kept it

as if it meant something

putting it on my desk

where its been sitting

for the past several months

until I discovered it

this morning

beneath

some loose pieces of paper

and when I read it over

I thought

okay

before I threw it away

James Babbs continues to live and write from the same small Illinois town where he grew up.  He has published hundreds of poems over the past thirty years and, recently, a few short stories. James is the author of Disturbing The Light(2013) & The Weight of Invisible Things(2013).