There are many forms now of having a poem published, and some of them are online -- but New Feathers Anthology also produces a printed collection each year of some of its poems. I am very excited that "Juggling Parenthood at Seventy" is on page 133!
If you are a poetry nerd, you may recognize the form "underneath" this poem: It's "One Art" by Elizabeth Bishop and begins, "The art of losing isn't hard to master." One of the techniques that the formidable poetry professor Ellen Bass teaches is taking such a poem and writing your own version, a sort of homage but also a set of training wheels. Since I love "One Art," I chose to work from its pattern.
Then, as you might pick up, I also was thinking of those "directions" for how to juggle. I tried once! I was hopeless. But I suspect that, like parenting, you can read tons of instructions but the reality will always be different, and you have to adapt and get used to it. I never gave the juggling enough of a chance ... but parenting, well, yes, I'm still doing that. Many of you will know exactly the feeling.
Juggling Parenthood at Seventy
[published in New Feathers Anthology, August 2025]
The diagrams suggest it isn’t hard:
you start with all three balls, and toss the first
release the second, pass the third—it’s art—
then you believe you’re ready for the next.
I start the day with all the balls in hand
prepared to just confirm I’ve found the art
where I believe I’m ready for the next
demand for help from one of my grown sons.
Release my expectations, trust the art:
I set them free to fly, I gave them wings.
I ache each time they cry for help, grown sons
who stumble and who bleed, for love’s own sake.
I raised them well and saw them claim their wings,
each full of confidence and boundless hope—
convinced that love could raise them like an art.
I blame myself each time they crash and cry.
How can I feed fresh confidence and hope?
Release them, give them freedom, though it hurts—
when will they rise, instead of crash and cry?
The diagram suggests it isn’t hard.
BK
