“Stay present,”
He advises.
Lovingly;
Selflessly
“I don’t want
you split between
two places.”
I want to laugh
You see,
you’ve been with
me, in the
mountains of
West Virginia.
Along the shores
of the
Great Lakes.
I saw you in
the mouth of
Mammoth Cave.
When the fireworks
reflected in
the D.C. waters.
I haven’t left
your hometown
in weeks.
“I’ll do my best,”
I assure him.
I’ve been trying
to untangle my
feet
wrestle them into
one place
For over a year.
Tag: shortpoem
Trauma
A distressing event
a disruption
unsettling.
A disconnection
from the experience
of self,
of others.
How can one
learn to settle
in a body
that's proven
fallible
in a world in which
we so desperately
seek certainty.
Avoidance
I stay busy
so I don’t think of
your empty touches,
your silence.
I fill my time
to learn what
healthy means.
There are some mornings
I turn off my alarm
because I can’t
sustain the busyness.
I succumb to thoughts of you
and I think of how to
be busy again.
Artistry
Our love was intense
selfish, at best.
I was the blank page you needed.
You were the clay I molded.
When we grew
into our own skin
my dear,
we woke
and couldn’t recognize the other.
You didn’t like
what I wrote.
I didn’t understand your form.
Language
I want to reach you in your language.
I want to be the words I want to hear,
feel your tongue as you
speak them out loud.
I want to feel who you are
when you shine in the sun,
playing your music,
thinking of the ones you love most.
Surprise
I like to imagine
the shock on your face
after discovering
the woman
who stays up
late into her evenings
writing poetry about you.
The Restless Crescent 