I'm going to read some poems from each of my books
before I read poems from my new manuscript, A Full Heart.
From Stand Up Friend With Me, this
is a poem called "An Ode for Ookie".
Ookie was a walrus I used to go visit at the Coney Island
aquarium.
The poem is called "At the Coney Island
Aquarium, an Ode for Ookie, the Older Walrus Child".
They had brought two new baby walruses in to share the pool
and it caused a problem.
So I subtitled the poem "The Sibling Rival".
"Do not worry, sweet little walrus,
about the superior cuteness of those two new babies
they brought to share your pool.
You keep pushing the twins out of the way,
more concerned about keeping them from getting attention
than having your own scrub brush nose whiskers rubbed
so that no one gets the chance to give you the endless hugs
and kisses you deserve.
It is impossible, of course, to be more popular than twins.
So finally, you sink to the bottom and play dead,
hoping our hearts break.
Mine does anyway.
And the keeper watches anxiously.
So you see it works.
But how long can you sit at the bottom of the water
when lungs cry for air and the heart for love?
No, Ookie.
Don't seek indiscriminate love from the many
as those two simple minded children
do who have not yet met with heartbreak, although they will.
And leap the railing right into my arms, and squirm, they
officially always, Ookie.
Mine alone."