This poem was created at the culmination of many weeks of lock-down, remote learning, not having any time away from my kids, missing being able to celebrate my birthday with friends, and having my ex around a lot to “visit” the kids. I drove away and sat in a carpark watching the sunset and balling my eyes out. Then I came home and wrote this.
To Be Human
My words
Sound like the soapy water gurgling my worries down the drain
I wish it was clearer
To be human
My reflection
Is as muddied as the puddle disrupted by a boy’s bike
And this is what I give to you
Look, I say
Look at this truth I saw
Look at how the red rises in my furious cheeks
Purple light bouncing off a sunset-lit tear
Look at the remnants of my patience
Forgotten orange juice from this morning’s breakfast slick across the sink
The way I am human like a book that’s lost its spine
Look, I say
Listen
And you wish it was clearer