Roots/Delicate Flower

Poem © 2015 by Joyce Mason

Revisiting my past

the places I grew up

the people who made me who I am today:

waters my roots

a human flower

survivor of many growing seasons.

How deep this structure

that supports me

through every kind of weather

excess sun/exposure,

bitter rains,

hail, frost and storms

of all kinds

assaults that bend

and even level delicate buds

but never touch the strong

rebirth medium

thick dirt sanctuary

for limitless resurrections.

Some people and places

fertilize blooming

some give ideal growing conditions

others—hope

when the plant looks dead

or destroyed beyond all

recognition.

These people and places

are the ribbons

that hold together

a spray of freshly picked blooms.

They make possible

a lifetime of beauty.

To them I give my bouquet.

~~~

Photo Credit: kichigin19 – Fotolia.com

Chicago

Poem © 2013 by Joyce Mason
All Rights Reserved

 I bear your

longitude

latitude

on the grid of my psyche:

endless Lake

ice cold winters

sultry summers

every childhood impression

on the South Side

of my chakras

when I was growing up,

a dangerous neighborhood.

The Windy City

bore gangsters

good schools

passion-worthy sports teams

a melting pot

bubbling to a boil.

You also bore me

but were never boring.

Still I ran

to a smaller city

then to California

as far as I could get
and still retain

country of citizenship.

I ran from the past:

abandonments

joy and pain intermingled

always ready to drown me

on the Lake of Happiness and Grief.

But when I came back

on Social Security

a homesickness

set in

a cancer

in the pit of my stomach

a gnawing loss

sharp as any I’d ever known

scene of the crime

St. Bernard’s Hospital

cut off from mother

family of origin

since then reconnected

now one more reunion

I had to embrace

lost birthplace

found again

dis-ease cured
home

at last.

~.~.~

Photo Credit: An oil painting of the Chicago skyline my husband purchased circa 1971 by artist J. Scheuber.

Note: Posted in celebration of the 27th anniversary of finding my birth mother  on April 14, 1986.

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