Bereaved Parents, bereavement, Child loss, garden, garden photos, gardens, Grief, Loss, Poetry, Writing

A Poem for Grieving Parents: After the Ink Fades

Parents, like me, know all about learning opportunities. We experience them each second, minute, hour, day, night, month and year. Oh, my dear, we know the lessons well. We never ask for them. We never request to join a school of thought, nor wish this club’s type of exclusivity on any other. We experience our lessons in nature when the birds chirp, yet hear no shriek of excitement, or “Mom, how you doing?” We have learning opportunities we never sought, and knowledge we never wished to gain.

Bereaved Parents, bereavement, Child loss, Mental Health, Poetry, Writing

In the Middle of Some Road

Mask 1 hides the bereaved mother screaming inside. She asks, “Why am I still alive?” but I tuck her down deep, even put her to sleep, so she will not speak all that is one her mind. "Shhh … little momma, don’t you cry" although your daughter is not alive.

autism, Bereaved Parents, Child loss, children, Family, Grief, Life, Loss, Mental Health, Photography, Photos, Poetry

A Picasso Shade of Blue

Born with a different kind of mind– and not the etch-a-sketch kind with the straight edges and directions to flow–is like sitting on the steps of the shallow end without a clue of how to swim or where to go.

Bereaved Parents, bereavement, Child loss, Life, Loss, Photography, Photos, Poetry, Writing

Escape from Hitchcock

There are days when you long for the waves to rush over your feet, and you discover the kind of days made for digging in garden dirt as sweat pours down your face, and you believe you recognize the signs of happiness again after you've known darkness of the darkest kind.

Child loss, Poetry, Uncategorized, Writing

Karen, I Deserve an Academy Award

I guess you didn't know when you wrote your opinion that I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to once again take my husband to the hospital one more time. One more time and one more surgery. I don't suppose you know the smile I show is one of weight I've learned to lift. At times,… Continue reading Karen, I Deserve an Academy Award

Advocacy, Poetry, Politics

Still Believe in Rainbows and Stars, A Poem

I debated within myself whether I'd share this poem, I Still Believe in Rainbows and Stars, for multiple reasons. It's multilayered with connections to Corrie and other topics, and like several of the poems I'm currently writing, deep in processing what the US is witnessing as a nation.