Poetry

Once There Was a Country: Three Poems by Abigail George

Image: Pixabay.com
Image: Pixabay.com
Image: Pixabay.com

ONCE THERE WAS A COUNTRY

I called that country
‘Childhood’. The seashore
is just a sugared
Waterfall. The blue
day a confetti of
Wasted sweetness.
I have no use for water.
No use for tears.
Having a beautiful mother, Growing
up and then not
being beautiful
in that way made
Me braver. It gave
me courage. I know
what immortality is.

The day’s spirit
is made of an autumn chill and rain.
The change in the
environment a small inheritance.
Daylight’s geography
is a blood knot. I am
lost and found again
in the tired sea of
That difficult, empty
country. Once, I knew
what love was, what to call that
personal velocity, that
speed but now
I am at the end of the world.

—————-

WATCHING EVERYTHING THROUGH A BLUR OF TEARS

I never went to
my aunt’s funeral.
Although I loved
her very much.
I couldn’t cope
with the grief of
losing her. Of never
seeing her again.
All I have is our conversations in the dark.
Her fragile life.
Her life, her life, her life.
Nothing ordinary
about her. Her
standing in the kitchen barefoot.
I think of writing

Her name in the
Sand every time
I go to the beach.
It will mean something to me.
Like the word ‘spirit’.
It will take away
The waves of regret
I sometimes feel
Of not going. Of not saying goodbye properly.
She’s ashen, salt,
And light. The key
To her soul a sword
In the same way
The pen that I feel in
My hand is to me.

—————-

ALONE IN MY GRIEF STRICKEN SADNESS

Shy daughter, I want her to say
I never wanted you
To have abandonment issues. I never wanted you
To talk about our relationship
To a psychotherapist
Or write about how I
Never wanted you.
All I want her to say is three words;
I love you. Not even
I love you most of all
Or I love you best. Just
Three simple words; I love you. And two more words
You’re mine; and five
More words; I have
Always wanted you, and three more for
The darkness of this open road called life;
You were wanted.

—————-

Poems © Abigail George
Image: Pixabay.com

About the author

Abigail George

Abigail George’s fiction was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She briefly studied film at Newtown Film and Television School in Johannesburg. She is the recipient of grants from the National Arts Council, Johannesburg, Centre for the Book in Cape Town, and ECPACC (Eastern Cape Provincial Arts and Culture Council) in East London. She has been widely published from Australia, to Finland to Nigeria, and New Delhi, India to Istanbul, Turkey and Wales.
Her blog African Renaissance can be found online in Modern Diplomacy under Topics.
She contributed for a year to a symposium on Ovi Magazine: Finland’s English Online Magazine. She is a poet, fiction writer, feminist thinker, essayist, and a blogger at Goodreads.

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