Poetry

First Grade Recess

ByJody Lee Collins May 22, 2012January 28, 2026

I wanna wear rainbow-striped leggings like Carly
or a bright pink tutu with Zoe’s sparkly shirt.
I’d like pigtails or a vivid
purple flower clipped
in my hair.
I’d like to run with abandon
hollering after a ball
and do a leaping high five
when I catch it.

I want to jump rope–double-dutch, in fact–
“Ice cream, Ice cream
cherry on top
How many boyfriends
do you got?”
and count As High as I Can
until I miss

I want to skip away with my friends
and giggle at a joke,
without a care in the world.

But alas,
I’m here in the background
standing still, dressed in
blase black and khaki,
watching from afar
with a whistle and a name tag
around my neck–Official-Looking–
and bewildered by all these rules,
remembering My Schedule,
keeping things in line…
wishing I was 6 years old again,
even if just for a day.

Poetry

With Apologies to Laura Numeroff**
ByJody Lee Collins November 4, 2013January 27, 2026

If you give a writer a journal She’ll probably say “thank you” (exclamation point) And wonder where the nearest pen or pencil is. If she finds said pen, she’ll take to writing A es a pee. Once she starts writing there’s no telling When she’ll stop—why THINGS COULD HAPPEN. People would be…

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Poetry

Cleaning the Living Room (a #poem)
ByJody Lee Collins January 17, 2013January 28, 2026

Dust hovers unsettled in sunlight, threatening to land on patterned grains of tables at rest. I observe the suspension of noise, remember the activity: buzzing, rising, howling, softening. The children are gone. It is time to put things in order. Restack the books, ensconce the trinkets to their pride of place, lay out the careful…

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Poetry

Eden DNA
ByJody Lee Collins February 12, 2013January 28, 2026

We were made for Eden dwellers with God in his greenglory and goodness among the vining wonder and fragrant trees. We came from dirt creation, witness to his filling of this face of the earth with his endless imagination named “witch hazel” “flowering quince” “red currant” “sweetbox.” He charged us as caretakers of His Garden, resident…

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Poetry

Wait Training {a #poem}
ByJody Lee Collins March 12, 2017January 27, 2026

I want to fly these dumbbells up, down, up, down quick! The momentum of each lift rising at my side pushing past perhaps what’s safe or wise in the name of what? Speed or yes, the checklist-exercise- done! When I slow instead, face the window and raise these weighted arms slow, slow, slow-up; slow, slow,…

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Poetry

May 7th, Leschi
ByJody Lee Collins May 7, 2014January 27, 2026

Ivy’s on the corner with her papers and her change. I stop, she chats and I cheer her on As she shares this chapter of her life Titled “October through February,” Bringing her to this sunny corner in May. The lines on her face tell a story Like the layers of life in a beautiful,…

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Poetry

Planting Prayers
ByJody Lee Collins September 18, 2012January 28, 2026

Scattered seeds, scattered me strewn across the landscape like the leftovers of an exploded fruit. Full of me, I dropped the pieces here and there along the way without the time to STOP and listen. Father, retrieve my prayers. Draw around them the frame of your love….

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