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My Trainer is a Three-Year Old
by
Eric Forsbergh


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My grandson's really who he is.
He directs my exercise.
Up the stairs, down the stairs,
through the playroom obstacle course,
among the blocks and
miniature monster trucks,
high stepping over the toy train tracks
while he asks me to carry
an armful of his favorite things,
back upstairs, across the kitchen,
exhorting me to follow him,
insisting Papa Papa
so I stay on task,
out the front door, across the lawn,
over to the playground,
up the little ladders
down the spiral slides
under the jungle gym
now home again.

I collapse into a nap
as soon as he is gone.


© by Eric Forsbergh.
Used with the author's permission.

 



Eric Forsbergh retired from a career in dentistry in 2020, but then volunteered to be a Covid vaccinator for Loudoun County, Virginia. He has participated in dental mission trips to Guatemala and Appalachia and recently earned a Master's level certificate in Biblical Justice from the John Leland Center for Theological Study. A Vietnam veteran, Eric is the author of two poetry books, Imagine Morning (2013) and This Mortal Coil, Poems of DNA (2023), and has published almost 100 poems in various venues. When not writing or studying, he enjoys spending time with his two energetic and highly curious grandsons at his home in Virginia.

   


Post New Comment:
jentsch:
This is precious!
Posted 01/24/2024 06:16 PM
SROkaty:
Ah. Children and puppies are the best exercise machines and much more fun. Great poem for bringing us back to our memories of raising our small children and letting our grandchildren run us ragged.
Posted 01/23/2024 08:59 PM
Lori Levy:
Exactly right! I once wrote a similar poem about the exercise I get just being with my grandchildren,
Posted 01/23/2024 01:35 PM
Darrell Arnold:
I have had friends say, after watching small children run to and fro, "I wish I had that much energy." I suggest that they wish for a body to match the energy. If I had that much energy in this old body, I'd cripple myself inside two minutes.
Posted 01/23/2024 10:36 AM
Ron Stewart:
Well said. We all have to get our exercise in somehow
Posted 01/23/2024 09:33 AM
Darrell Arnold:
I'm chuckling, here.
Posted 01/23/2024 08:27 AM
David:
Gently humorous and very believable! Nice selection of details.
Posted 01/23/2024 08:15 AM


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