The first poem in my first book is about a time when life meant simple decisions like whether or not to pull on my light-up Santa pin!
WHEN I WAS FIVE
from The Liminal Space
I had a Christmas pin
on my white faux fur jacket.
It was a Santa that lit up when you pulled the chain underneath his beard.
I’d like this again to be all that matters—
To pull or not to pull.
Christmas Eve has always been a special day that I’d spend with some combination of family members. However, this year I have talked to so many people who feel the incredible pressure and it just has compounded in this holiday season to make a giant stress ball with a crazy bow on it! I feel this myself.
Whenever I’ve been stressed out, I’ve felt like an anvil is sitting on my shoulders. Yes, it could be bad posture, but more often than not, it’s stress that I have not dealt with and set free. The poem “Fall” from my latest book The End of the Beginning, is a metaphor for letting go of what has held me back at times. I hope you and your family, friends, loved ones, are able to get together during the holiday season, let go and have some laughs – it’s a medicine I know I don’t take enough of.
FALL
from The End of the Beginning
I’ve been trapped under
many places and things
over time.
They’ve weighed on me
like anvils.
Even now, shards of memory
litter the floor
and distant voices tell me things
I honestly don’t want to hear.
Tonight at dusk
I ran from the house,
tearing past spirits on the porch,
to launch myself from the highest step
into a crisp heap of leaves.
It’s not so much the suffering
as it is the silence.
--
Take care of you.
Let’s chat soon.
With affection,
Carrie VS