Category: poetry

Why Not?

Severe
bone
loss

One more challenge
already exhausted system
accommodating further testing

slow
climb
determination

(Written for my weekly challenge: threes. I was diagnosed with Osteoporosis last year, but due to other, more urgent health problems, treatment was put on hold. Reviewing the situation, my doctor referred me to a specialist, who said I have severe bone loss in my hip and am prime for a break. After a fight with third party insurance, I am finally on board to start a bone building drug. Ah, life! Image my own.)

In Line

Faint at the sight of needles
a squeamish gene, I’m sure

Suck it up, adult self admonishes
Child looks away, breath held

Sixty-two years its been thus
too many pokes to count

And now there is new promise
a vaccine to ward off the virus

Hope reduced to one tiny vial
believe me, this sleeve’s rolling up.

(Written for Reena’s Exploration challenge. Image is the prompt.)

Basement

Concrete is cold, imposing
does nothing for aesthetics

At least we’re protected,
I tell the littles, ignoring

Snot dripping, slime
oozing from unsealed
windowsills, cobwebs
and bits of shedding pink

It’s the best I can do:
four walls and a roof.

Except the ceiling
is bulging, mold and rot
certain to rain down on us

While upstairs, the man
ignores the leaks, luxuriates
in his abundance…Momma

Said marry a rich man,
you’ll be set for life,
but it’s dawning on me
there’s more to it than that.

(For Eugi’s Weekly prompt: dawning. Image mine)

Sustenance Rekindled

It wasn’t the knowledge of stability –
chaos had the upper hand back then.
It wasn’t even that love was expressed –
unconditional an unheard of concept

It was an unspoken presence
the reassurance of rocks
the irrepressible allure
of a freshwater stream

How a child’s heart
found encouragement
in the whispering wind
solace in arbored shelter

Naturally the din of home life
overpowered this self-assured
passage, disrupted kinship
and shattered childish faith

But all that is behind now
and when I clear cluttering
thoughts, disperse static
emotions, still the heart

The rhythms are still there –
presence offering sustenance…


(Image my own)


Neglect

Oil glistens
contaminates
drinking water
250 evacuated

25 years of
boil-water advisory
an elder recites
and now this

We’re not animals,
adolescents rally
but ears turn away
government wheels rust

Neskantaga First Nation
want to go home
to live with dignity
know their human rights

Do they know
a .05% increase
in corporate taxes
would suffice

For the 73%
of First Nations
also lacking
this basic need

Acknowledge
prioritize
address
It’s all they ask.

(Written for Reena’s Exploration Challenge #168. Image and information sourced from :
ctvnews.ca
and Government of Canada: https://canadians.org/fn-water)