Motherhood, Part II (*Editor's Pick GB#187)

A slice of cake once a year may not seem like much. A lock of hair in a drawer, a little tooth. What they don’t tell you is how the power of a kiss unleashes your inner goddess. How you become invincible.

       

Adult Education *

North light fills a row of windows high above the wooden platform where I’m told to stand. Easels scrape into place like a flower blooming around me. I hear easy chatter, lean into the paint-smeared stool, struggle to unwrap this borrowed robe.

*This piece placed third with the crowd, and was also Editor's Pick (Thank you Christine!)

One Heart Breaking

Splinters rasp. Pancreas.

The word cracks

it open.

The surgeon’s voice echoes

months

in a thunderclap

straight down the middle.

Your last sigh, exhaled,

broke it forever.

Yet, listen. Days like today

I can hear it

sounds like pebbles

at the seashore.

 Pep  13/8/66 - 16/6/03

Always for you, Pep.  143

          Answer #14 was also