{"id":1723,"date":"2016-02-03T00:00:56","date_gmt":"2016-02-03T05:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=1723"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:47:59","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:47:59","slug":"feb-3-learning-words-and-card-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2016\/02\/03\/feb-3-learning-words-and-card-games\/","title":{"rendered":"Feb 3 &#8211;  Learning words and card games"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Wednesday, February 3<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>&#8220;And I learn about gratitude<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>without noticing,&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>My niece Terri wrote these words. \u00a0 Her poems focus me; get me to a \u201cthere\u201d where I \u00a0breathe \u2014 inhale and exhale \u2014 not hurrying. \u00a0 \u201cOctogenarian,\u201d takes me into the world of a little girl learning that intense love and fresh discoveries can live close to approaching death. \u00a0And leave grace alive over years that follow.<\/p>\n<p>Mid-day in this work week. \u00a0Blessings on your day.<\/p>\n<p>john sj<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Today\u2019s Post:<br \/>\n<\/strong><strong>\u00a0\u201cOctogenarian&#8217;<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I was nine that summer<br \/>\nwhen you taught me <em>satiated<\/em>.<br \/>\nIt came after precocious<br \/>\nand pernicious, but was obviously<br \/>\nand immediately the best word yet.<\/p>\n<p>We refill the drinks with extra ice, cool ourselves<br \/>\nwith <em>condensation,<\/em> that slick of sweat dripping down<br \/>\nour glasses. You proffer crackers; I decline,<br \/>\nsatiated and smug about it. You shuffle and deal,\u00a0 while the sun<br \/>\nslowly loses its glower in the Menomonee River.<\/p>\n<p>I place each card carefully, fingers splayed,<br \/>\nintent.\u00a0 I hunch a bit, slanting my anticipation<br \/>\ntoward the deck in those gnarled fingers, toward<br \/>\nthe sheen of sun on water, the road and the bridge,<br \/>\nthe cities on the far side, toward you.<\/p>\n<p>It doesn\u2019t matter what we play: 66, gin rummy,<br \/>\ncribbage, even two hands of solitaire, laid out<br \/>\nlike opposing armies or fields fresh planted, seven shirts<br \/>\nspaced out on each side of the clothesline, falling straight,<br \/>\nquiet in the fading heat.<\/p>\n<p>You hold your cards loosely, <em>competent<\/em>,<br \/>\na word from last summer, but you don\u2019t<br \/>\nalways win.\u00a0 I learn to bridge the cards without<br \/>\nspraying any into the porch screen,<br \/>\ndragonflies darting toward the river.<\/p>\n<p>I learn about matrimony from the thin band<br \/>\nembedded in the swollen skin of your ring finger, about eternity<br \/>\nfrom the way you refer to Grandpa as though<br \/>\nhe were still here. And I learn about gratitude<br \/>\nwithout noticing, even how to spell it.<\/p>\n<p>Some things though I didn\u2019t learn, like when you taught me<br \/>\n<em>octogenarian <\/em>and I thought it meant<br \/>\na person eight decades old, thought<br \/>\nit meant you at your next birthday, never comprehending<br \/>\nthat it really meant<br \/>\nyou would leave me someday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wednesday, February 3 &#8220;And I learn about gratitude without noticing,&#8221; My niece Terri wrote these words. \u00a0 Her poems focus me; get me to a \u201cthere\u201d where I \u00a0breathe \u2014 inhale and exhale \u2014 not hurrying. \u00a0 \u201cOctogenarian,\u201d takes me &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2016\/02\/03\/feb-3-learning-words-and-card-games\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1723"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1723"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1724,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1723\/revisions\/1724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}