In my head —
I’ve tried a million
times to go back
to that day —
tried to change
my choices
begged a do-over
from the universe
I’ve crippled myself with
guilt
sorrow
thrashing the quicksand
sinking in
layers of grief
fighting a sticky web
trapped in
regret-regret-regret
I don’t even care about
my own
broken heart
I’m sorry
I broke yours
emotions
Why we can’t let go
Regret is the glue that makes grief stick around for a lifetime.
Quiet healing
It is said that the body will heal itself of most things, if we will allow it to do so and not overburden it with remedies — the same is true of the soul and the heart.
Think outside the cage
Let go —
Open the cage of mind
Let the grief out
Reach for the health and peace
growing outside the cage —
Yes! Now’s the time.
scrambled blackout poetry created from Rafe Martin, Birdwing, 2005, page 135
Transforming
I translate stars into daydreams
I make rain and rainbows into
freshly squeezed joy
I breathe the air of possibility
I swim deep in rivers of passion
I use my loneliness as
a stepping stone to love
I am on the march to freedom
I tend to my blossoming soul
Memorial
Grieving makes us stronger
It gives us a spirit of grace
And the grace of spirit
Our hearts feel weaker
But living past loss is
the ultimate courage
We honor our loved ones
by living on despite,
and all the more because.
Water cycle
to cry is beautiful —
the beauty of one’s pain
leaving the heart
—blackout poetry created from Maud Casey, The Man Who Walked Away, 2014, pages 114–115
Grief bores holes
Grief bores holes
in our hearts & heads
like a woodpecker
— peck peck peck
— knock knock knock
You can’t make it stop
Eventually it flies away
— but leaves pits
that never fully heal
Abrupt
When you’re used to seeing someone day after day, for years on end, and then suddenly they’re gone, you
Insomnia ticking
three o’clock —
anxiety, regret
in the depths of worry
swept away in the
whirlwind of nothing —
a horrible nothing
—blackout poetry created from Octave Mirbeau, The Diary of a Chambermaid, 1891–1900, page 6