Contributor: J.K. Durick

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(For Nathaniel)

We don’t ask for days like this
They come to us in due course

Effort, luck, and persistence
Come into play to make the day.

We just finish one thing to begin
Yet another, they all become

Notches to mark our progress
Like the pencil marks we made

In all those kitchen doorways
A way to measure our growth

One overshadows an earlier
Then is overshadowed in turn;

On days like this we smile and
Take pictures, shake hands and

Hug, we cheer and say goodbye
Like tourists off on a cruise, or

Like our ancestors ready to sail
To a new world, or astronauts

About to blast off into space;
On days like this we smile a lot

And promise ourselves that
All the things we did add up to

Important measures, like these
Diplomas, notches, penciled lines

And then we turn to look for any
Friendly faces in the confusing crowd.


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J. K. Durick is a writing teacher at the Community College of Vermont and an online writing tutor. His recent poems have appeared in Camel Saloon, Black Mirror, Milo Review, Eye on life Magazine, and Leaves of Ink.