Category: Pain/Sadness

The Mirror Has Two Sides – Poem of the Month – May 2023

The Mirror Has Two Sides

There are two sides to a mirror
The side you choose
holds magic confirming your
narcissistic nature
Which loves what it sees 

My side is blank
It’s only purpose
to reflect your image
out to the world
I am unseen, living in your shadow


Copyright © 2023 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Merril is hosting Monday Quadrille at D’Verse and the prompt is ‘Mirror’

Faint Darkness on the Horizon

Faint Darkness on the Horizon

It didn’t matter how brilliantly 
the sun was shining on this day
The passing laughter of children
would go unheard
Encouragement of well-wishers
received with a fake smile
Grudgingly acknowledged
with a mumbled word of thanks
That faint darkness on the horizon 
holding its position
Always present to dash hopes
and leave unfulfilled dreams
Until it was gone there would be no joy
For now it had control and ruled supreme 


Copyright © 2023 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Grace is hosting Open Link Night at D’Verse

The Earth Stood Still – Poem of the Month – March 2023

The Earth Stood Still

When you left me
the earth stood still

The wind held its breath
and trees stood silent
A melon ball sun refused to smile
and the sky cried no tears

Feeling my pain it held me
until I could release
a gasp of disbelief


Copyright © 2023 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

De provided tonight’s Quadrille prompt at D’Verse, and it is the word “Gasp”.  Sanaa will be hosting and reading our submissions.
A quadrille is a poem of exactly 44 words excluding the title.

Dear Father

Dear Father

When you cheated on her
you cheated on me too
Catching you red-handed
the shock on your face priceless
My eight-year-old brain struggled
Manipulation and bribery
A new toy for my silence

Will you tell or can you keep a secret?
you asked of me
I was a kid, I was confused
Left to my own devices
Struggling with what I witnessed
And the silence asked of me
I did my best until I didn’t

I gave away your secret father,
To mother
Not to sting
But for both of you,
to face the truth
And then the fiery gates of hell opened
consuming us all

Living in the middle
begging you both to stop
fighting tooth and nail
I was unseen and unheard
But used as the conduit
relaying your messages
Breaking your icy silence

For years I carried that pain
Still hurting today
How you both used me
to fight your battles
Scarred for every relationship
Trying to fix your problems
in my own marriages
But I forgive you


Copyright © 2022 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved


It's Open Link Night at D'Verse Poets

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay 

Hidden in Childhood – Now Available on Amazon

I am excited to share that I have two poems included in the new Anthology of Poetry called Hidden in Childhood edited by Gabriela Marie Milton. It is available for purchase now on Amazon. Below I am sharing the first poem Case Closed.

Case Closed

You carry melancholy
in a suitcase
full of hope
It is a familiar
travel companion
Hope may find joy
but ultimately it leaves you

Knowing deep
in your soul
pessimism rules
In abandoned dreams
from long ago
is where you
find yourself

The trust in parents
to protect and love
Your well-being discarded
Forgotten
While their emotional wars
are waged relentlessly
You, played like a pawn

Their flawed wisdom
damaging all
Misguided by upbringing
You are what you are taught
A product
of the toxic environment
in which you live

You surrendered
everything for love
and it played on your
vulnerability
for happiness 
The suitcase remains
closed like your heart


Copyright © 2023 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved



Image by ArtTower from Pixabay 
 



 

Ice Man – A Quadrille

Ice Man

Being closed off and aloof
it is impossible for anyone
to break through the deafening silence
Your cold, frigid heart
will likely never thaw
What will it take to reach you once more
Or will you forever be the ice man
Frozen in time


Copyright © 2023 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Mish is hosting Monday Quadrille at D’Verse Poets.  She has promoted us to write a quadrille (a poem of no more than 44 words) using any form of the word Ice

Hardened Heart

Hardened Heart

When you look at me
you do not see me anymore
If you did then you would know 
The light in my eyes left long ago
A fake smile is all that remains
Sharp-spoken words became daggers 
piercing a heart once full of love
Now hardened from neglect
Closed off in loneliness 
It beats still
but who is there to care

 
Copyright © 2022 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Word Prompt

Sharp - RDP

Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay 

Empty Shell

Empty Shell

I am dead
Inside a heart beats
Tears fill tired eyes
Blood runs through veins
A pulse can be felt
Yet I feel nothing
Robbed of joy
Pleasure denied
Happiness stolen
I am an empty shell
A shadow of my former self
Invisible
and I know who killed me


Copyright © 2022 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved

Lillian is hosting Poetics at D'Verse tonight and has prompted us with
a list of movies that have won a Razzie for the worst film.  From the list
she provided I chose a 2007 movie called 'I Know Who Killed Me'

The Tangled Web We Weave – Flash Fiction

The Tangled Web We Weave

He never listened. Oh, he heard, but was incapable of listening to her.

In the beginning she loved his intelligence and sweetness. There was something deliciously romantic about his thoughtful gestures. He cast a spell on her, capturing her in his jeweled web. Making sure she was good and stuck in place. She could neither come nor go. The quirkiness of his personality once refreshing and keeping her always on her toes, now suffocating. Trapped by his weirdness that quickly lost its appeal. Squeezing the breath from her lungs and energy from her body.

What she mistakenly took for romance was actually a predator luring his prey. Now his web constricts and chokes her until she is no more.  To her, death is quite romantic. She speaks no more but he didn’t listen to her anyway.  If he couldn’t have her, then nobody would.

Copyright © 2022 Christine Bolton - Poetry for Healing
All Rights Reserved
 
Bjorn is hosting Prosery Monday at D’Verse. He has prompted us with a line from Bob Dylan’s Desolation Row to be included in our piece of flash fiction to be no more than 144 words.
”To her, death is quite romantic”
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