the 1st stanza is quite prosaic, but I felt it was appropriate. it
gives a feel of, dare I say it, sincerity
KS
On 06/06/07, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I think it would be more powerful if you just cut the first stanza,
> Laura, which tends to say the things so often said....
>
> as its last line says....
>
> Doug
> On 5-Jun-07, at 5:11 PM, Laura Heidy wrote:
>
> > I Tell Myself
> >
> > (for Patti)
> >
> > I cannot bear to talk of how you died
> > by your own hand. I cannot bring myself
> > to cry in front of anyone. My pain is shame;
> > my grief is guilt; there is no way to blame
> > this loss on God or fate - and so, each time
> > I'm asked, I lie. I say that I've survived
> > your death and life goes on and nothing's changed
> > except you're gone. I do not speak of things
> > unspeakable - I mutter platitudes.
> >
> > I keep the circumstances of your death
> > tucked hidden with your note. I lick the blood-
> > stained envelope to seal away the pain.
> > I tell myself repeatedly that guns
> > and ropes and razor blades are just the same
> > as unchecked cancer cells and others die
> > in self-same ways a hundred times a day.
> >
> > I cope. (I do not cope.) I comprehend.
> > (I will not ever comprehend.) I cry.
> > (I'll never cry again.) And when I'm asked
> > if I am on the mend, I tell the truth.
> >
> > (I lie.)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ************************************** See what's free at
> > http://www.aol.com.
> >
> >
> Douglas Barbour
> 11655 - 72 Avenue NW
> Edmonton Ab T6G 0B9
> (780) 436 3320
> http://www.ualberta.ca/~dbarbour/
>
> Latest book: Continuations (with Sheila E Murphy)
> http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?LID=41&bookID=664
>
>
> Art has to be forgotten: Beauty must be realized.
>
> Piet Mondrian
>
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