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Poetry is just the evidence of life. If your life is burning well, poetry is just the ash. Leonard Cohen
Showing posts with label teens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teens. Show all posts

Friday, April 15, 2011

Elegy for a Childhood

image source
It was the thirteenth of September
1981
I gave you what you wanted
Afraid that you would run
I lost more than my innocence
I lost my sense of trust
That bad things just don't happen
To good little kids like us.

I watched the days creep by
On my calendar on the wall
I watch the summer sun
Become the winds of fall
I hated you for what you did
And I hated God for fate
I prayed each morning on the bathroom scale
Then see if I'd gained weight.

It was the thirteenth of November
Two months to the day
I walked in to the clinic
The price I had to pay
To pay for our stupidity
With my shame, my fear, my blood
In two hours I walked out the door
You were relieved
I wasn't pregnant anymore.

If we'd known what we would create
If we'd known what we would destroy
If we'd known how our lives would change that day
Would it have made a difference anyway?


Aside from minor editing, this poem was written in 1990 and has been hibernating in a folder since then. I decided it was ready to come out today.

submitted for Thursday Think Tank at Poets United

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

A Triolet on Violets or Teenagers

image from Magpie 57

Benign neglect helps violets thrive
Don't light them too directly
Too much care they can't survive
Benign neglect helps violets thrive
Thirst a bit, the blooms arrive
Overwater, they wilt abjectly
Benign neglect helps violets thrive
Don't light them too directly

submitted for Magpie Tales 57