I feel I owe a debt to J.K. Rowling on so many levels in my life and that sounds so corny, but it is true.

It was her Harry Potter series that gave me material to practice how to teach large groups of kids about characters. It was good practice how to adapt into scripts and construct props too.

It was her series that I was reading as one of my favorite pets was dying and I grieved over Dumbledore and my beloved cat that summer, but it gave me a place to channel that grief.

It was the bravery of the final book and all its uncertainty in finding a way to finish what had to be done and in that year I finished a particular job era. The what nexts of the next few years, I re-read that final book every year till I found a place to land in my life. I think I read it five years straight.

And then this summer, I was frustrated with my son, who began reading at a super early age, had given up on reading all fiction books he said. Right after he turned eleven I got him to start listening to me read the Harry Potter books because Harry in that first book turned eleven. He got hooked and never turned back!

It has been ten months to read all of them out loud, but I’ve loved every minute of it! What an actor work out! I wouldn’t trade that time for anything! We finished the last movie tonight also.

Hence the poetry mostly about Harry tonight and one I wrote earlier in the day thinking about the days ahead of me. I’ll try to take on some of that Harry bravery that I just spoke about.

Harry Haikus

Hogwarts Express

Train ride find friends

Crunching candy to brave end

Blasts their wizard world

Feral Car Found

Muggle no magic

Flies till untimely crashes

Wild thing rescues boys

Love Protects

Love disintegrates

Those who are Dark Arts harmed

First story to last

Hagrid’s Pets

Hagrid holds creatures

Rare beauty is charming him

He shows other sides

Harry Potter Has Come

Who is Harry now?

He is a part of fabric

Sews us together

Practicing Magic

Magic is mercy

Spells are our powerful words

Love is the secret

Hogwarts Acceptance

I will so miss you

Reading out loud for two

Curled up on the couch

Or on your bed in a pouch

With a flashlight on

Words breaking like dawn

Into your world

The wizard flag unfurled

You would go on and on

About the tiniest little spawn

Or creature or phrase

In that Harry Potter phase

I will cherish the time we spent

The books were such a gift

To get you talking

In your walking

Or waking hours

You’d quiz me about towers

And wands and curses

And all the versus

Of good guys and bad

And what they did and didn’t have

Or what they thought

Or saw or caught

You wanted to know

What was in their souls?

Our discussions were thrilling

As you were spilling

Out so much of what you think

Now it is over and that stinks

I’ll try to replace these books

With other characters and hooks

To dig you out of your stuck place

So our time together won’t be erased

To Be or Not

I’m wearing a sweatshirt today

With a friendly saying

That keeps at bay

Those thoughts from dwelling

Or welling up feelings

That cry to be stuffed

For something tough

The outer garment

Proclaims a place

I find so pleasing

Because it squeezes

The good things out of me

Even when I’m not looking

Tomorrow we’ll see what’s cooking

From a test they are giving me

Not the paper kind

With books and rhymes

That I could pass with flying colors

No, this one is one of the “others”

That come around the bend

And smack your behind

Because you have been unkind

Or done something way

In the past you didn’t think

Would hurt to take that drink

Of Kool-Aid and now it is too late

It isn’t open to debate

Your body needs testing

Because there is a mess within

And nothing can change that now

It isn’t how you thought

You might be caught

Your mind won’t stop

Until tomorrow

Until then you borrow

What strength you have

From a shirt that says you aren’t bad

And you are glad that such a place exists

And you sit with it all on your plate

Not wanting to eat in this state

You push back from the table

Being stable today

Is where you want to be

In reality, now is the opportunity

To be all that you can be