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Max’s Musings

By Max Molleston

This month in the middle of America, more often called the Midwest, we residents ‘just don’t know’ about certain things. The  February thaw is not as predictable as Ground Hog Day which is not predictable until 24 hours prior to the day. What is the most predictable besides February birthdays in your family is Valentine’s Day. Time honored language, “will you be my Valentine,”  accompanied with the funniest, most appropriate or the sweetest card you search for and find. Flowers and chocolates are big movers as you find  them, buy them, and present them to a loved one. The sweet sentiment and attention the day calls for has to be great sales successes.

Today provides an avenue for Quad-Cities poet Mike Bayles. Not long ago, I included a Mike Bayles poem among three poets, all Quad-City based. As we left each others company last month, I wanted you to expect something sweet. After all, the sentiments and chocolates spell and smell sweet. You would not think Bayles’ poem Things My Younger Cousin Asked Me contained the sweetness we aim at, but this writer asks you to read on.

Things My Younger Cousin Asked Me
She asked me why
I was away so much.

She asked me where my college was
and what I studied.

She asked me what a sociology was
and what I could do with it.

She asked me if I played her song
would I play it again.

She asked me if I would visit her mom
and would I wear my old T-shirt.

She asked me why the stars
hid behind the sun.

She asked my why
we were made of stardust.

She asked me what
was above the sky.

The sweetness builds with each question laid down by poet Mike Bayles. The younger cousin fishes for some answers and appears to want to know  more. This poem moves on and changes its tone. Younger cousin wants commitments she believes she needs. Then her curiosity spills into a reality, yet a whimsy where answers will not be as easy to come by. The next round of curious questions escalate to mysterious space. The sweetness begins as the questions appear. The nature of each question hangs in the air for us, immediately unanswerable. Bayles’ poem is about questions, not answers. How powerful would the older cousin appear if some kind of answer comes forward? That would remove the stuffing from the poems excitement. It is about questions. If I were a relative of the younger cousin, an aunt or grandmother, I would think it, then remark how sweet the younger cousin is, and how sweet her questions are, especially about stars, stardust, and the sky.

Things My Younger Cousin Asked Me is a poem with a wistful and  charming ending I could not have expected, but can imagine with the older cousin and a delightful and inquisitive younger cousin.

Next month I want to remember a ground-breaking Quad-City poet. Join me here.