gather everything sharp-edged & stuff it in a box // your father doesn’t need any more hair clippings & either way, the wind will take them // when your mother offers you help, don’t rebuke her // concede that she is trying // understand that you & your father are not one being // & that her disdain for him does not extend towards you // quit checking the driveway every 5 minutes for presages of your brother’s arrival // no presence, however desired, can fill the chasm your father has left behind // stop wasting wine on the stone; give life a chance to sprout anew // abandon your habit of idling in front of the tv hoping to catch the same half-second glimpse of his face on the news // keep your eyes dry for long enough to look around you, to look inside you // tear the veil & step in front of the mirror; // tilt your chin up & sideways // notice the imperious line of the brows, the aquiline curve of the nose, the identical mouth // listen to the turtledove’s song outside your window; // how tempting to trade places with her, to devote your life entirely to grieving // mourning so becomes you // but look, isn’t that the same sun that falls now, that has beheld him all his life, that has followed his conquests? // isn’t that the same red path he’d tread on to gather you in his arms? // & oh, isn’t it all so damned beautiful? // see, your dead are only gone if you drown your spirit in mourning, // if you consign them mercilessly to the grave // otherwise, they shine on
a.d. is drawn to the sacred, the profane, the mysterious and the mythological, which provides inspiration for her work. She is a Pushcart-nominated bisexual poet and visual artist, and her poetry is published or forthcoming in Anti-Heroin Chic, Aôthen, Culterate, the engine(idling, Sublimation, PISSOIR! and elsewhere. Meanwhile, her visual art, mainly photography and self-portraiture, is or will be featured in Welter, Audi Locus, Hominum Journal, Moonday Mag, Antler Velvet, Bleating Thing and other outlets. She is currently working on her first poetry collection. Tumblr & Twitter: @godstained
Artwork Source: “Reach,” James Juszczyk. From the Public Domain.
The Turning Leaf Journal 