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 Writing.Com Item ID: #1403022
 Title:  Grace's Menagerie
 Item Type: Static Item
 Brief:  Never leave the ADD challenged in charge.
 Last Modified: 03-19-2008 @ 10:55pm
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This is just a first draft. Some flowed easily from the words given. The rest had to be dragged out. I need time before I can look at it objectively and revise. It feels somewhat incomplete to me, but I don't know what it needs.

Essentially this is free verse, but I did use a rhyme and sort of used the given words for the day as bout-rimés.

Underlined words are those given today in Your Best Para/Poem Challenge" by wordsy

.

Grace was the one we called upon, our maven.
She kept to the task, she kept us all together.
Without her, we would have been scattered.
I admire her gift, for I tend to meander
even when my intent is to focus on the task at hand.
I start one thing, but then am caught by another.
For me to lead would surely end in a maelstrom,
a turbulence from which we might not recover.
Yet duty at times has forced me to manage our menage,
though at such times I'd much rather malinger
and keep to my books, alone in my room.
And at such times I've had to be resourceful and clever.
I would delegate the household chores to any willing
hands, even to the most unabashed social climber
seeking only to impress Grace, their honor as maculate
as their skills have left the house. But Grace is a reader
of faces and souls and knew whose deeds deserved
a gentle reprimand and who required stronger
words and training in family management.