April 26
HOW THINGS SEEM
Not everyone who pushes me down is my enemy and not everyone
who pulls me up is my friend. I have
been seduced by the closeness of people who used me as their shield. When I have been held in the place of honor,
the point man of life, I forgot that made me the replacement target for the one
who stood behind me. I had been offended
as I was thrown to the ground. The hands
that shoved me, I saw as my rejecters. I
was spared the tragedy and peril of the thing that flew by my ear thanks only
to the grace of a thrust in the right direction. Accurate appraisal is my weakness. Seeing things for what they are is hard. Things are rarely how they seem.
Grow tall with
your grain and the years will grow around you.
*
Would You Rather a Lamp?
I am a girl filled with expectations.
Like a ginger jar filled, stuffed caulker block full,
though the filling is the part which is unpredictable;
It could be match books, or seashells,
acorns or all those pretty capsules.
This makes me erratic and sometimes volatile.
Are you strong enough or far too sane
to stay and help me sort the contents?
It’s lonely work without a witness or a spotter.
I rather be alone than with you reluctantly,
so please try to shuck that husk and remain.
Yes, I am sometimes capricious, but I try never to be
cruel.
I know sometimes you convince yourself
that leaving me to my own devices is the wisest of courses,
but don’t be fooled;
You disappear due to your weakness not strength
and the worst part about the price of abandonment
is that everyone has to pay it.
You are reading selections from Sober on the Way to Sane
and More Lines From My Life by Sherrie Theriault
