The Summer Day

By Mary Oliver

Who made the world?

Who made the swan, and the black bear?

Who made the grasshopper?

This grasshopper, I mean-

the one who has flung herself out of the grass,

the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,

who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-

who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.

Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.

Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.

I don’t exactly know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?

Velvet handcuffs

Invisible and binding

growing tighter as I shrink

Cut past flesh and bone

These bonds

oppressive and unbearable

serve as

Constant reminders of my price

finicky eaters

2 birds

Separated by sixty years
The two are practically one
She prefers her Jello green
While his Heineken must be cold
Neither eat real food
And yet they both have energy
to be constantly
Charming and cantankerous
Indulged and indulgent

Here are some links if you found this post looking for help with your picky eater-

For kiddos:

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/childrens-health/in-depth/childrens-health/art-20044948

http://www.webmd.com/parenting/features/feeding-a-picky-eater

http://www.livescience.com/10286-handle-kids-picky-eating.html

For adults:

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2012/10/26/adult-picky-eater-will-only-consume-three-kinds-of-food/

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/40357712/ns/health-diet_and_nutrition/t/grown-eat-kid-you-may-have-selective-eating-disorder/#.VONSwfnF9nI

http://blog.brainfacts.org/2013/07/the-biology-of-picky-eating/#.VONUNfnF9nI

Image: quoteko.com