newspapers record events
in our lives

when Jessie was born
her name was in the newspaper
and yet who were we telling
those who were friends
already knew

when Jessie was born, I thought
how can the rest of the world
go on as normal
something so wonderful
so extraordinary has happened
and yet she appeared with
ten other babies
just across from the for sale column

and when Leonie died
it was so far away
that it didn’t really hit
till i saw it in the paper
but the world didn’t stop
it went on regardless
and the next column
told of tomorrow’s race meeting