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Creative Commons License
What I Would Do To Avoid A Mental Breakdown by Janna Herchenroder is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Ink Showers bring Daffodils


(This is a reworked poem from a previous post that I just read for a Creative Writing Student Reading at Le Moyne :)


The doorbell is ringing; it echoes down the hall.
I cling to the corner
Peering, folded legs knotted,
A twisted root in the wood boards.
He carries...A note.
I hold my breath as it rings again.
I see him bend and slide it into a crack under the screen door
where it sticks.
No emotion; just a twist of his lips.
I was nothing
I was nothing
I am nothing.

My fingers creep over my face, shaking.
An engine revs and gravel crunches,
the dog keeps barking, pitched high and unsure.
My home, is home no longer.
A distaste for the button on the outside of the door,
A hatred for the chimes in the hallway,
I can’t use those steps again.
Because touching them will reconnect us.

The white lined paper crinkles in the wind,
Pinned in the woodwork
Each scribbled line stabs
Pens driven into the tender skin
of my neck
My breast
Pooling heavy ink in my stomach.
I rise, stretch my gnarled limbs,
and take a cinnamon poptart from the box in the pantry
and absorb the sugar on my tongue.

the wind through the window screens forces scent up my nostrils
 spring flows through the house. And the acridness of rain.
A droplet hits my forehead as I stand at the screen.

I want the words to smear.
I want them to run through and off the paper,
across the porch and down the stairs.
I want the soil to absorb the thin slice and turn it into a daffodil.
Whatever is written
I’m sure
Is not more useful than a pretty yellow flower.
Those smears of ink deeply rooted in my garden.
And I will never know.
Piercing daffodils
Tender tulip shoots
Snarling tigerlillies...
embedded with black ink...
Unknown words to feed the blossoms.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

I know I haven't posted in a while....but I have an excellent excuse! Life is moving - fast! Graduation is coming up and there are many papers to do. But I have a new poem that I want to share with you...whoever you may be! It started out as very specific to someone but it can be applicable to all types of people and situations. So take whatever you need to from it - that's what poetry is for! Enjoy :)


Tapestry

I walk this world
On the wild side
These frayed threads seem to end,
but as I pull
they unravel
and loop around my finger
like a promise ring
I never wanted.

Each end unwinds
And catches
And wounds;
Leaving traces of
Loss.
Pulling like my life depends…
But I think I’m fading.

Each glance in the mirror reveals
Less of me
Draping skin
Shows the bones
Of a past
Should be buried in the ground
A stone that here lies
Injured cells.

Take this needle and prick my hide
Wincing fingers
To save my life
Wind these threads
Weave me an image
Of newness
A face I will learn to recognize
And be proud
A tapestry
Revealed to the world