To celebrate National Poetry Day here is some extracts from my poetry book What do you think?: A collection of poems. I hope you enjoy them.
Thieves
Littered broken hearts
One million men
Tearing me apart
Vestiges of
What I used to be
Leaving behind
All different parts of me
Traces
Chunks
Bits
Intellectual property
All stolen from me
And I will never be complete again
And the waiter came around with decapitated roses
When women are mean girls
Another barb
To bring a smile to your face
You think it wounds
Not quite
But I will confess it grates
How a woman can act like a mean girl
Time and time again
Her insecurity and bitterness
Coming out in bitchy comments
I guess I should feel sorry for you
That your life has led you to this
Vile and wrapped up in your own bitterness
But woman like you give women a bad name
Lashing out, attacking, trying to cause pain
I know you just don’t like my happiness
That it causes you pain
That your jealousy is like your other face
Sneering, ugly and plain
I take it as a compliment
That you can’t just keep quiet
That you cannot become the adult you are
That you have to let your hate perspire
I move on, of course
And I smile as I do
Because although you bore me and disappoint me
I am happy, because I am nothing like you
(This was written in 2016. I wish it wasn’t as relevant as it is. I do have to point out that men can be bitchy too, but sometimes it just hurts more when it comes from another woman).
Motherhood
They say that after this I will be a woman
But I feel I already earned that long ago
Long before the waves and the pain
My dues long paid up
Unlike those other dues
This one will be worth it
They say this will change me.
And it irks me that they are not wrong
One bouncing baby
To change the melody of the song
Half a stone of giggles and crying
To bring a joy
That could bring back the dying
Loved person
Broken promises I knew you could not keep
You only ever tried to love me and in gratitude I lay at your feet
Because I was in love too, but my love was different
My love was the notion of life, a good one
All I wanted from ear to ear; a smile from my own mouth
It did not work
You loved me so selflessly I could not leave
Although I know now it was only through your love for me that I loved you
You lost your own identity
You chose mine but I wanted mine to keep
Still. Here I am
This time only crying at your ever loving feet
I owe you too much to leave
So for the rest of my life. If I never find the courage
I will be the living, loved dead
Even though I see
Your love in an otherwise cruel world binds me
Forgive me. I doubt for all that I was ever worthy
All poems taken from What do you think?: A Collection of Poems by Catherine Balavage is available from Amazon.