I Thought You Knew

I Thought You Knew

All this time,
I thought you knew
I mean, I did tell you
Many times
Many ways
so I thought you knew

I told you on the good days
so that I wouldn't have to explain
when the bad days came
So, I thought you knew

I thought you knew
How I hear the reverb of
Hurtful words in my head
for days at a time
While compliments fall to the ground
like leaves slapping concrete
Before being blown into brown bags
And carted away like old love letters

I thought you knew
And agreed to understand
that I have porcupine days
When my quills stand out
Because I don't feel safe anymore
And I need you to handle me
Carefully
Because you're not the first
To forget
or misunderstand
But I thought you knew

Reverendsister's Ink
©2013

(drafting...there's more I think)

Grief is a motherless child

Grief is a motherless child

She wanders around
face molded into
formidable frown lines
Etched into young skin
Pressing out a smile
like a hot comb on clean
kinky hair coated in Dixie Peach

She wanders in her pretty pinafore
and shiny Mary Janes and looks
like any other shortbread
sweet little girl
but she carries the aftertaste
of a bitter pill
dissolved in her mouth

She is the silent tear
streaming down a wet face
She is the muffled sob
caught in a pillow's grasp
She is the inconsolable ache
buried in a stomach's pit
She is the broken heart
limping its lub-dub

No one will turn the rope
so that she may jump
No one will pat-a-cake
or Miss Mary Mack
though her hands are
wide open and held high
Waiting for a touch

No porch light turned on
To call her home
No warm bed
with frilly sheets,
teddy bears
baby dolls
and bedtime stories

Just a lonely road
where she wanders around
in her pinafore
and pretty little Mary Janes
caked with graveyard mud
So, call her Grief,
for she is just
another motherless child

Reverendsister's Ink
© April 4, 2013

Carla's Birthday Poem

I was going to post a little something I was working on for my birthday. Then, this arrived and I was rendered (almost) speechless. But I have enough speech left to shout THANK YOU, VALERIE!! This was actually on my wish list...that someone would create something for me out of his or her own giftedness. I got my wish! Enjoy the gift...

CARLA'S BIRTHDAY POEM
For my friend, loved and cherished, Carla Jones

I wish I had a poem to give you
some words that would
wrap around you
hug you tight
hold you close
whisper in your ear
tell the world how loved you are
how precious
how much I love you
how precious you are to me
I wish a poem would
kiss you
anoint your head with oil
lay hands on you
pray away the ghosts
of past pain
heal you of every grief
of every sorrow
that it would remind you
how wonderful
how amazing
how powerful
you are

© Valerie Bridgeman
April 2, 2013