Poem of the Week - Priorities (Sadly Waiting for Recess)

Poets United is all about Community.  We wish to celebrate and acknowledge individual poets who are part of our group.  This week's poem of the week  is Priorities which is written by  Mr. Walker, a teacher, father, husband and poet from San Bruno California who shares his poetry on  Sadly Waiting for Recess .

Priorities can be found within his blog:

Priorities

it's difficult sometimes
to know if what I do
is aligned with my priorities

life is erratic
like it's charting a course for me
that doesn't seem guided
by fate or design

I look for omens
signs to show me
that I'm doing the right things

even the occasional bad omen would be okay
something to fight against
an obstacle giving me
a short-term goal to focus on
something to measure myself by

but the fact is I don't believe in omens
signs from above or below
what's here and now
in the middle matters

teaching young people
writing poems
making my small portion
of this erratic life
brighter and more beautiful

at least I think so
that's the question I started with
isn't it?

but then I look
at my boys
and see what is reflected
in their luminous eyes

and everything seems
true and good
what I know
and what I do
the things that are me
appear congruent

and I wonder
why I question myself at all

I should take that
as a good omen

~ Mr Walker

I also felt I needed to include the next poem "With our Families" because it really kind of called to me.  I liked it's simplicity and how it mixed with a ringing twist of truth and importance.  For me a it started a river of memories and a poem that can do that with so few words has to be good.

With Our Families

while swimming at the pond all day
the three other men left
for a drink at a nearby bar

I would have said "no thank you"
but I still would've liked
to have been asked

~ Mr Walker


We hope you have enjoyed reading this week’s selection. Each week we select a poem from one of our members which we feel is a wonderful read. It is the poetry penned by our members and their willingness to share that is the core of our community. If you enjoyed reading this poem we can guarantee there will be many more like it so be sure to stop by next week and read the poem that has been selected for your reading pleasure.We hope that each of you will spend a bit of time each day reading some of the terrific poetry written by our poets.  It's all about community!