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When People Ask Me How I Survived
by Maria KintnerIn those days,
I can only remember the sun,
starting to bake the concrete, and dry the grass.
We walked casually through someone else's garden
of tears, to find your place. To find a
place to put you, because we could not take you away.
And I was so very strong. I was so very numb.
I can only remember the footsteps. I walked them
one after another, because that was all I could do.
And the world rocked, spining on it's axis, and
ripping time away from me. Ripping you away further
and further, from the present I still have to show up for.
I can only remember conversations we had
before you left, and after I was alone.
Bites and chunks of our time, in the wrong places
and in mismatched hours. I don't know when they happened.
I don't know when we stopped being us.
In those days, I don't remember how I survived,
only that I find myself here, slowly waking up
from the worst nightmare, only to find that it is real. 07/11/2008 Author's Note: No. You're wrong. I am not strong. I'm in shock.
Posted on 07/11/2008
Copyright © 2024 Maria Kintner
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Michelle Angelini on 07/11/08 at 05:47 PM Maria, I don't know when a poem has affected me emotionally the way this one does. It brought me to tears. The pain expressed in these lines goes beyond words - it's down in a core no one can reach but the person feeling them, for whatever reason. They aren't fancy, but the remembering of separating from someone or something, brings back the memory of the horrible, aching, unbearable shredding feeling I could not control. I'm going to recommend this as potd. It deserves this honor. |
| Posted by Nicole D Gregory on 07/12/08 at 09:52 AM Maria, This is an amazing write... and if you are in shock - I am in awe. My core experience in the department of loss, separation, loneliness and all-things-sad were found with this piece. Remembering my pain through your words and thinking of how you have expressed such a strong sense of yourself...wow...wow. I hope in your search and your walk in this world that you find peace. ~N |
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