the doe’s motel
twelve is that awkward age in the best
of times, sweaty, smelly prepubescence with a touch
of self-consciousness, breast nubs, and pimples,
no matter where home happens to be, in
a tidy cul de sac with a mailbox at the end of a paved
driveway, edged by a meticulously coifed lawn
with a lavender phlox border or at the Doe’s Motel
on Route 45 in Libertyville, home to a family
of eight kids who shared three rooms, the oldest
boy, a paraplegic who could swim like a fish in
the kidney-shaped swimming pool and us,
my dad, mom, sister and me, third kitchenette
unit from the end, the only room with a colored
TV, bought by my dad, with special permission from
the reservation office, to make it feel more like home…
normal is just a setting on a washing machine
I don’t know why it pops into my head all
these years later, I don’t need remembering
now with a steady roof, a proper address, a mailbox, cupboards
always stocked, categorized, alphabetically, in tidy, unsettling rows, labels facing out, and
a mortgage paid on time, the first bill paid
every month year after decades before
groceries, before anything, with a steady
9 to 5, give or take, to sustain it all,
I’ve come a long way from the Doe’s Motel…I have…
imagine my surprise to discover it still
stands, an RV stop these days, reminding
me how fragile life is for survivors…
that kidney-shaped pool is paved over
now, but the ghosts of us swimming
like fishes that summer of 1968…
I remember us swimming all too well
~kat
Na/GloWriPoMo 2026 Day 2 prompt: write your own poem in which you recount a childhood memory. Try to incorporate a sense of how that experience indicated to you, even then, something about the person you’d grow up to be.
Time for a glimmer…in the midst of a deluge of storms yesterday afternoon well into the night we had a brief glimmer of sky and the setting sun at dusk. Proof that even in the midst of a storm…there are glimmers to be found!
Much love, peace, and glimmers in the storm to you!
~kat ✨✨✨💚✨✨✨
like mercury colliding... 
April 2nd, 2026 at 7:01 am
what a story , what a memory Kat how long did you all live there? … Did I you go to school from there? My imagination is popping!
I love your glimmer sunset 💜💜💜
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April 2nd, 2026 at 8:58 pm
Haha Willow. So many questions! The room had two full sized beds. My sister and I shared one and my parents the other. It was a kitchenette, so we had a cook top and a small fridge. And of course there was a full bathroom with a tub and shower. We did go to school. The bus picked us up from the highway that ran next to the motel. When you’re a kid, you don’t realize the gravity of the situation. But it stays with you.
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April 2nd, 2026 at 9:19 am
Thank you for sharing this little window into your world!
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April 2nd, 2026 at 8:53 pm
Thank you Violet. We all have many layers and stories to tell. ✨💚✨
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April 2nd, 2026 at 10:24 am
this is most precious. Love 1968. I was 6 then and can’t say I remember anything but I love knowing you were already living and loving life like me. Beautiful write. Thank you.
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April 2nd, 2026 at 11:10 am
Thank you dear Selma…it feels so long ago until it doesn’t and I realize the impact it has had on my entire life. Many blessings and peace to you. ✨💚✨
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April 3rd, 2026 at 2:33 am
That is just an amazing story ! Eight children ….wow and your mum was obviously a clever woman! Is your eldest brother still alive bless. Sorry ignore me but that’s just such a story of resilience. It makes you who you are 💜💜💜
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April 3rd, 2026 at 11:32 pm
Oh Willow. Let me clarify. My family was only of four, my parents, my sister and me. The family of TEN- eight children and a mom and dad- lived on the other end of the strip. They shared three rooms and we got to know them over the summer at the pool. We eventually moved into a small apartment in town. Like you, I wonder about that boy. He taught me a great lesson in resilience.
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April 4th, 2026 at 2:43 am
oh! Sorry Kat I got that all wrong . What an amazing memory. Your mum coped well though as did the other mum indeed.
Lets hope that boy faired well. 💜💜💜 He’s a glimmer!
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April 4th, 2026 at 8:06 am
That he was Willow. A glimmer then, and a glimmer now all these years later in my memories! ✨💚✨
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April 4th, 2026 at 9:38 am
A shining light 💜💜
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