Poetry #2- Slice of Life/Poem

From Wikimedia Commons, by Lilly_M

Many years ago, I read Ralph Fletcher's novel, Fig Pudding. The book is based loosely on Fletcher's own life, growing up in a large Catholic family, and losing a brother in a car accident when they were teenagers. In that book, Fletcher says, "When someone you love dies, you get a big bowl of sadness put down in front of you, steaming hot. You can start eating now, or you can let it cool and eat it bit by bit later on. Either way, you end up eating the whole thing. There's really no way around it."

I think the same is true of children who grow up in the foster care system. Children love their parents, no matter how inadequate or unworthy those adults may be. When those people that they love are removed from their lives, there is a deep grief that colors every relationship and every experience.

And there is also anger-- at being unloved, uncared for, and abandoned by the people who are supposed to care for them. That comes out too, in many different ways. This morning, on Year of Reading, Mary Lee posted a picture of a flame thrower. I looked at that picture, and the thing that immediately came to mind was how the anger that smolders within some people erupts in surprising ways.

I messed around with that idea for a while this morning, then all day in my head. Tonight I revised and reordered and reworked. I even used a thesaurus, which I hardly ever do, to find synonyms for burn. And here is poem #2. Which will also have to be my Slice for today, because I have way too much school work to write any more.

************

"Rage"

The flame
that smolders
deep within
sparks
then blazes

Your words
red-hot irons
that singe
char
incinerate
my heart

And I wonder

Does 
the rage
that burns within
scorch your soul
like it does mine?

(c) Carol Wilcox, 2013