My Newest Poem

Make A Pretty Metaphor

put stars and irises all around this:
sobbing on the phone with your younger brother
because he has schizophrenia and a truck that won’t drive
and he can’t hold down a job
and the only peace he feels is when he is alone in a pasture
and he called everyone in the family before calling
to cry on your shoulder
because he knows in your way
you are as fragile as he is

add a yawning kitty cat and a sunbeam
to make this pretty and poetically sound:
sobbing with sorrow and hunger and rage
and feeling a fetus protest in your uterus
and telling your unborn child
that everything is okay
as you choke on tears and mucus
and pace around your apartment
trying to calm yourself down

make this vague
make this acceptable
wanting to kill for your family
steal from the blind for your family
do whatever it takes for your family
so that there will be
bread
pillows
birthday cake
air conditioning
and maybe once
in a great while
a drive to santa fe
for a few hours of escape
eating tacos
drinking beer
watching the world in a haze
that isn’t
hell

~Misti Rainwater-Lites