On His Way
In minutes Timmy’s mastered his skim board,
found the rhythm to toss it in front
of his jump, and to land while in motion,
as a man aims ahead in a hunt.
He’s six, at low tide, with his sister,
where he peed on her castle of sand,
where he bit through the shame of his swim cuffs
when, at three, he behaved like the man
who will hit whom he goddamn well pleases,
when he fears that his wife thinks he’s not.
Now, Tim’s mom is out shopping for groceries,
and his dad is distracted a lot,
and his grandma’s been gone all of two years,
still, Granddad doesn’t know what to do,
and his aunt’s breaking up with his uncle,
and his new baby brother’s so cute.
“Hey, I’m ready to ride a big wave now.
I’m a pro. This is easy. Oh man.
Next week I’m gonna get a real surfboard,
or whenever my mom says I can.”
At Four, Descartes Gets an Early Start on Responding to Faith With Reason
Breakfast,
May 13, 1600,
La Haye-en-Touraine, France;
the third feast day
of his mother’s
passing.
“René,
watch: ‘In the name of the Father,
and of the Son,
and of…’ ”
“Papa,
Papa, does my milk taste to me
the same as it does
to you?”
After serving as 8th-grade sports editor of The Christopher at Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Middletown, Pa., Joe Cunningham conducted research on children’s perception, expression, and understanding of emotion. He is emeritus professor of psychology at Brandeis University.
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