I can do this, I can't do that.

I push away from my desk.
I can do this, I can spend time.
Playing poker with Annie, puzzling with Russ.
The President of the United States can wait.

I’ve a very poor reader of priorities,
But these guests matter to me.
Their physical comfort alone cannot
Be the sum total of my involvement.

True, there may be joy in art, in effort.
Does not each day’s beginning offer
A staggering array of possibilities,
Created for our consideration?

Most certainly, children and grandchildren
Do not exhaust the options for pleasure,
They offer the chance for sublime interaction,
A journey into past and future.

Whether a young girl or a grown man,
They welcome me into their world,
To see their dreams and hear different sounds,
With no need to defend my turf.

To battle with the meanings of Poker, Sudoku
And baseball, in a common effort.
I can do this.
Mothers and grandmothers reach deeper. I can’t do that.