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.