May 18: Cinderella, Parents of Graduating Seniors, "My Daughter's Tooth"

So, I'm hoping that you're not getting tired of poems about my daughter.  She is on my mind a lot right now.  There's a countdown clock in my head right now.  It's ticking away steadily to May 30.  

I know that she's going to be the same person that she was on May 29.  She's not going to transform like Cinderella at midnight, run away leaving behind one of her Ugg boots.  I'm not going to have to search the kingdom for my daughter after May 30.  

However, a shift is coming, and these posts that I'm writing, these poems and pictures that I'm posting, are my way of preparing myself for that shift.  It's what writers do.  When they have big things happening in their lives, they turn to pen and paper.

So, if you're getting tired of my fatherly musings, you might want to stop reading this blog for about a month or so (maybe the entire summer).  There's a whole lot more coming.  For those friends of mine whose children are also graduating this year, let's get together, form a Parents of Graduating Seniors support group.  

Saint Marty will bring the Scoop Fritos and cheese dip to the first meeting.

My Daughter's Tooth

by:  Martin Achatz

I give thanks for my daughter's tooth,
Small as a kernel of unpoppped corn,
How it catches the window light, glows
As it did in school pictures, kindergarten,
First, second, third, fourth grades.
I give thanks for this fragment,
This reminder of when she would press
Her head against my chest, fall asleep,
My heart and her heart slowing,
Dark bringing us together, her need
To feel safe, my need to keep safe
Each breath she breathed, each hair
Twisted in her tight braids, each tooth
Pushing through her pink ridges of gum.
I give thanks for this relic, keep it holy,
Safe in a pill bottle.  Take it out.  Worry it
Against my palm, between my fingers.
Say a prayer for the ashes of the baby
She once was.  Sing a song for the smile
Of the woman she's becoming.