Laurie Kolp
Laurie Kolp'spoems have appeared widely online and in print publications. Her poetry books include the full-length Upon the Blue Couch, and chapbook Hello, It's Your Mother. An avid runner and lover of nature, Laurie lives in Texas with her husband, three children, and two dogs.
I Wanted You to Like Green Eggs
Laurie Kolp
Featured, Issue 57, Summer 2019
We stay in the downtown library while rioters
block the street, find a comfortable corner
with plaid chairs and join our hands in prayer
seeking serenity for the things we cannot change
this world we live in today. We become silent,
lost in separate thoughts. I remember sitting
in this exact place reading you Dr. Seuss. You
wiggled beside me, eyes on the window instead
of green eggs. I knew you wanted to play outside
regardless of the summer heat, but I wanted you
to uncover the musicality of rhyming words
heard rhythmically, fall in love with my favorite
picture books, classics kept after I quit teaching.
I wanted you to want to read on rainy days
pent up inside. No child of mine would not
like to read. Outside, people march for equality,
for respect for their individuality. You turn
to the window and ask if we can leave.