Disappointment

All Poems, Disappointment, Emotions, Hope, Loss

Disappointment

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Disappointments are ubiquitous.

Popping up all around us like toadstools.

Some large and intrusive.

Others, small, almost unseen.

But, everyone encounters them.

At one time or another.

Remember when a friend didn’t return a call?

A dinner date, called off?

A flight, cancelled?

A movie you wanted to see, uninspiring?

Having to choose between two important events on the same date?

Can you recall the feelings set off?

Disruption of joy?

Loss, sadness?

Anger, hurt?

What do you do?

When things just don’t work out the way you wished?

It helps me to contemplate nature.

At all the seeds dropping from trees.

Never germinating.

At birds’ nests poached.

By foxes or raccoons.

At cicadas drumming.

Not finding a mate.

All creatures, human and not, suffer disappointments.

I am not the only one.

I know I’d offer compassion to another.

So, I give it to my unsettled self.

Honor the feelings.

Scattered thoughts.

Till ready to move on.

Turning them into something worthwhile.

Some action.

Maybe writing, sharing, forgiving.

Perhaps disappointment, a toll for living.

Helping us grow strong and learn.

We’ll never want for practice.

It’s everywhere we turn!

Lynn Benjamin

June 24, 2024

All Poems, Animals/Insects, Disappointment, Food, For Children, Humor, Stories

Running Low on Cheerios

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The weekend rolled in.

A smooth, expected wave.

My turn to feed geese.

Still hanging out at the pond.

Goslings, grown, almost indistinguishable from parents.

Maybe adolescents now.

Waddling further afield.

As grownups look on.

Giving them space.

To peck for more to eat.

Just like typical teens.

But, yesterday, I scattered the last of the cheerios.

Bob, reassuring me, we had another cereal for today.

An old stale one from months ago.

Before settling into bed, he ran downstairs to find it.

Opened the pantry, searched.

I must have tossed it out, he apologized.

Now what? I shrugged.

Thinking of my weekend charges, their disappointment.

So, he ransacked the closet further.

Finding two plastic containers holding cheerios.

Packed, ready for a grandchild to munch on a car ride.

Also, pulling out rice crackers, other assorted possibilities.

For me to collect in the morning.

Put into a brown paper bag.

The geese didn’t know the effort it took

to assemble their early treat.

As they raced to compete for toasted oats,

half flying, half on fleet feet.

 

Lynn Benjamin

June 10, 2024

All Poems, Animals/Insects, Disappointment, Food, For Children, Gardens, Humor, Seasons, Stories

What Happened to the Peas?

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What happened to the peas? asked Bob.

Seeing them pushed over, flattened.

After climbing lush, green, tall.

Was it the rain the night before?

Battering them down?

Leveling them?

It couldn’t be deer.

For all the deterrents laid.

Maybe bunnies.

Nibbling to nubs.

Leaving nothing for groundhogs.

Insects, birds.

Nothing for us, this season.

Last year’s pods, prolific.

Sitting on the deck flowering, fruiting.

Away from reach of rabbits.

Moved downstairs to the back yard.

Where hungry creatures forage.

Making more space above.

Surely, these rabbits trampling peas

have a fine gourmet palate.

I hope they reject cucumber leaves

for their next May time salad.

Our sacrifice, contribution

to well-being of cottontails.

We owe them hearty ovation

for attention to green details.

 

Lynn Benjamin

May 24, 2024

All Poems, Disappointment, Emotions, Family, For Children, Grandchildren, Humor, Mexico, Playa del Carmen, Stories, Trips and Places

Nothing Has Gone Right

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Nothing has gone right, moaned Elias.

As we walked back to the apartment.

Rented months ago on VRBO.

With the ideal space.

Two bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths.

Washer, dryer, pool.

Located by a pedestrian shopping street.

Just right, except no running water.

In the kitchen, sinks, showers.

How do you flush a toilet?

Wash hands?

Take a shower?

All impossible.

And all communication with the rental agent by email.

Phones simply not connecting.

So, we emailed.

Asked for a maintenance person.

Who threw up his hands in despair.

Unable to repair the problem.

By email, the company offered another apartment.

After we already unpacked.

Did we have the energy to repack?

Move, sight unseen to a new place?

Late at night?

With tired children?

Nothing has gone right, said Elias.

I, listening to his lamentations.

Though the problem still unsolved,

I pointed out flowers, palms.

Warm weather, we’re together.

No battles or pogroms.

 

Short Epilogue

 

It took one night of rest

for water pressure to resume.

We stayed in our perfect nest!

Banished thoughts of gloom and doom!

 

Lynn Benjamin

February 20, 2024

 

All Poems, Disappointment, Humor, Spain, Trips and Places, Valencia

It All Happened Because

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It all happened because.

Because a taxi driver told Pepe not to miss it.

The Church of San Nicolás.

Renovated by Hortensia Herrero.

Wealthy owner of Mercadona market chain.

Who refurbished the Palace of Valeriola.

For the Center of Arts.

Holding her private contemporary collection.

So, on Saturday night, we strolled to the church.

Turned away by mass.

Informed we could return any day at 10:30 am.

On Sunday, we headed first thing to San Nicolás.

Turned away again for mass.

Advised to come back any other day.

Monday, before our friends left for home.

We strode there.

Confident we’d get inside.

Turned away yet again.

For Mondays, the guard said, it was closed.

It all happened because.

Because a taxi driver told Pepe not to miss it.

Because we wanted to see Hortensia Herrero’s work.

Because we were curious.

It all happened till it didn’t.

Dismissed each and every time.

We’ll try once more without our friends

before we, at last, resign.

 

Lynn Benjamin

January 23, 2024

 

All Poems, Art/Arts, Disappointment, Emotions

Have I Ever Told You?

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Have I ever told you?

Ann Patchett wrote back to me.

After sending a letter to Parnassus Books in Nashville.

Thanking her for getting me through the pandemic.

With novels and essays.

For writing The Dutch House.

Taking place where I Iive in Elkins Park.

For hiring Meryl Streep to read Tom Lake.

Her latest novel.

A pandemic masterpiece.

Of parental disclosure.

To three grown daughters.

Gathered on the family cherry farm.

Reminding me of a deep longing.

To tell my children stories from the past.

Before it’s too late.

And, oh yes, I sent her a pocket poem.

About two geese eavesdropping.

On our Audible rendition of the book.

Ann Patchett wrote back

on a Tom Lake postcard.

Though craving more prose,

the short note, I’ll safeguard.

 

Lynn Benjamin
December 13, 2023

 

All Poems, Children, Disappointment, Emotions, Family, Grandchildren, Philadelphia, Trips and Places

I Still Don’t Understand Why

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I still don’t understand why I couldn’t get the Newton’s Cradle,

Elias said at breakfast.

Chewing eggs and toast.

Looking plaintively across at me.

Wanting to continue processing.

Yesterday’s denial of the device.

That demonstrated conservation of momentum, energy.

Appealing to him in the shop at the Franklin Institute.

Do you remember the reasons Grandpop gave? I questioned.

Yes, he answered.

I would lose interest.

It required space.

Mom would have a conniption.

He smiled at the word conniption, learned at the museum’s café.

When we first went over why the souvenir wasn’t a good idea.

I imagined my daughter’s exasperated voice:

One more tchotchke in an already overstuffed apartment!

Now, I said, tell me your reasons for wanting it.

He enumerated.

It’s a cool example of a physics principle.

I would play with it.

I’d store it on my brother’s computer table.

I listened intently.

Then told him a story.

About when I bought hermit crabs and a cage, gifts for his older brother.

When his brother was much younger.

How his parents made me return them to the store.

For the clutter they’d cause.

For the work to take care of them.

Elias piped up.

Well, you’d have to clean the cage, feed them.

Find a place to put the cage.

Aha! I said.

You’re taking the parental perspective.

He smiled, understanding.

The Newton’s Cradle issue done.

Elias seemed satisfied.

Understanding fully now

his Grandpop’s override.

 

Lynn Benjamin

November 9, 2023

All Poems, Disappointment, Museums, Philadelphia, Politics, Trips and Places, Worry

National Constitution Center

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Usually, I shy away from crowds.

Look for places that don’t teem with people.

But, I was not content.

Rather, shocked.

When the National Constitution Center had no lines.

Few visitors pressing interactive buttons.

Attending the Freedom Rising performance.

It was so empty, we slipped through.

In record time.

Leaving me to ponder why so vacant?

Was it too beautiful outside to go into a museum?

Was tourist season over?

Or had people abandoned interest in learning about democracy?

Foundational laws of our country?

I had no answer.

But, I must confess.

My heart was heavy, gloomy.

Where were We the People?

Long halls unfilled, too roomy.

 

Lynn Benjamin

November 6, 2023

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All Poems, Disappointment, Environment/Mother Earth, For Children, Gardens, Plants

Discarding Impatiens

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It was mid-October.

When landscapers pulled out the impatiens.

Hedges of white, red, orange.

So lush that drivers stopped cars to snap photos.

Now gone, I queried a worker.

What are you replacing them with?

Looking at scrawnier, multicolored flowers.

Are they pansies? I asked.

No, the gardener replied.

They’re violas, much sturdier than pansies.

So, I pulled out Safari to look them up.

Found, like pansies, they’re edible.

Often adorning salads, desserts, drinks.

A bit heartened, I walked on.

When my eye caught a container on the truck.

Labeled Deer and Rabbit Repellent.

My stomach sank.

Not only won’t they be edible

for neighbors or for me,

but foragers will be repelled

for what they’ll find, stinky.

Removing rows of robust flowers

swaying breathtakingly.

Then planting, spraying new ones

seemed impropriety.

 

Lynn Benjamin

October 21, 2023

All Poems, Disappointment, Electronics

How Do You Respond?

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How do you respond when a battery designed to help, hurts?

When the Generac Power Cell, installed to keep power on, turns it off?

Leaves you in the dark for hours?

After a brief power surge.

When you call customer service on what’s left of your iPhone battery?

Because you have no power to charge it.

When the call’s dropped twice?

The rep doesn’t call you back?

When you’re hunting for boxes and wires with flashlights?

On stepstools because you can’t reach cabinets?

How do you respond when your refrigerators and freezers don’t work?

When it’s up to you to figure out a complex system?

Do you keep calm though anxious?

Pray?

Hope?

Wrack your brain for solutions?

Keep calling the representatives after disconnections?

Wait through menus and music?

Remain determined?

Despite the upset that a costly unit failed?

It took two hours to restore the light

though the problem still not known.

Unfortunate when a source of comfort

becomes unannounced millstone.

 

Lynn Benjamin

September 30, 2023