Gold Medal - Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

Gold Medal 
 
 
I’ve beaten my own record. Again.

Most tears shed while thinking
of people who are kind.

First tears in the audience
at an elementary choir concert.

Longest number of days in a row
weeping for any reason.

If crying were a sport,
I’d be a contender.

Furthest distance
for projectile tears.

Most Kleenex’s used
while reading a single poem.

Greatest variety of emotions
that might inspire weeping.

I did have a good coach
in my mother. My grandfather.
My aunt. They modeled
crying for love, for grief,
for sincerity, for prayer.

I’m a legacy, really,
natural talent, plus
practicing all the time.

Blue sky? Bawling. Brave kids?
Sobbing. Great loss?
I’ve been a puddle for years.

And to think I used to try
to stop the tears.
As if they were something
to be ashamed of.
As if they didn’t make me
a real winner.

Shared by Trisha Lord