Christine "Cissy" White is probably a familiar name to most of you. If not, check out her wonderful writing which was and is totally inspiring to me. I first "met" her through the Parenting With ACEs site - wonderfully written in her own authentic voice. It was her writing that made me consider the possibility of writing in my authentic voice as well and led me to eventually post several blogs. Then, at the December MARC Convening in Philadelphia, I met Cissy in person. I shared with her that she was the reason I decided to write Blogs for ACEs. We talked about writing and I confessed that although I love to write in general, it was poetry that is most comfortable and natural for me. She then said something along the lines of - "well, then, post one of your poems!" So I am. Thank you Cissy - thank you for encouraging me to take this next step.
I really want to write a description or disclaimer before posting this, but - oh well..I think I"ll just jump right in.
What Didn't I Get From You?
What I didn't get from you:
The picket fence of safety
Coming home to the same front door
year after year
month after month
day after day.
But you were following Dad's lead
as his twin planet
how could that have been different?
The safety tho - letting me in on
that little secret
that the world is not always a safe place
for little children
for your little girl
maybe would have helped - I mean
having that reality conversation.
But then, your mom kept her own
silence
and you didn't ask her either.
So then, shhh... finger to lips
you didn't tell me and I didn't tell you.
Roots of a place weren't real
I grew up everywhere and nowhere
Still have that in me
not quite touching the earth.
Easy talk was not ours
no girl talk - learned on my own
living in my head
not knowing my heart.
Every straight line
became a question mark.
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