She sat on the bathroom rug
With quiet methodology
Fingers grasped around the plastic tube
Holding black stretchy ring
She tested each for it’s elasticity
As they were pulled off and on to the floor
She looked up at me
With wide eyes bright
As I told her
“Put them back on”
Head back down
With determined obedience
Her little fingers once again clawed:
The ease with which they flew off
Was not to be repeated.
Each day we read.
With her wry grin
we turn pages,
sing songs,
speak high, speak low
and close our eyes into sleepy submission
But eyes were opened wide for these words:
And I feel my life
Is turning more into dots
A mass of gray
Gold desperate to twinkle through
More and more
My daily trawl of
Facebook
Online newspaper comments
Political discussion websites
TV debates
Seems like vomit
Thoughts of waste
Expelled from the mouths of drunkards
Down 3am dark alleys
Waking up with foul taste in mouth
Groggily justifying
“Hey, I’m entitled to my opinion,
I’m just saying what I think.”
I see your
#100DaysOfHappy
Your
#OnlyGoodThings
Your
#KindnessIsMagic
Desperate to speak against the barrage of
hate of
#BigBenefitsRow
Controversy of
#CBB
Because nothing is sacred from public abuse
#HateTheQueen
Even when good is done
When NekNomination is turned upside on its
head
With sandwiches instead of Smirnoff
Angry words still condemn
When did we get so critical
Deeming ourselves so high
So right?
When did we forget
That in each vein is blood
Pumping to heart
Desperate for life?
So me and my mini-me
immerse ourselves into the stories
Of the caterpillar that is hungry
Which lion is hers
Discussing the places she will go
And anything else
That allows me to do silly voices
And speak that truth
Reiterate It over and over
Until it becomes rote, ingrained, her being
Over and over:
The importance of words
The life and death they bring
And the difference they can make
They flick off so easily
So quickly
So flippantly
But can’t be put back the same
“Taste
your words, before you spit them out”
The wise woman said.
