This piece of paper

On this piece of notebook paper,
Mom wrote neatly, "I love you."
But her plans after that changed
So I folded it in two
Daddy on one side, wrote with loving care
But then I folded it again
When Daddy wasn't there
My baby brother scribbled
On paper folded to a fourth
But he was taken from me too
So I folded it, of course
California painted a picture
Of its ocean on one side
But we had to leave
And the portrait had to hide
This paper's been abused
A sixteenth of its size
And who's to fold it again?
Now mother has folded it twice
Down to a thirty-second
This paper's hard to fold
How can I trust it to keep
Every secret it holds?
But I have to work
To fold it one more time
Because I can't bear having his death
Written on the outside
Now the paper's shrunk
Down to a sixty-fourth
I can't open it up
For fear of it being torn

Author's Note

let me know

Reviews

[Jordan's Back]

i really like this piece, its marvelous and expressive, it also shows how we protect our hearts to keep them from being torn. Keeping though from coming in, yet not letting others out..The wonderful thing about poetry is it leaves one to self interpretation at times. Thats what I got from it.

One Question: Was the Switch from 3rd person to 1st peron in the 4th line through the rest of the poem intentional? If so it could bring on a new perspective. Thank you for sharing.

[Annabelle Lee]

yes, lines one through three ar actually about my mom. Guess I wasn't clear enough. And My my my sombody's up late tonight

[Jordan's Back]

lol When you have a daughter, you get up when she does :P
and no Like I said it could have given it another perspective, so you just added an additional meaning to me. Thanks :)

[Annabelle Lee]

you're very welcome.

[Mazie Tackett]

wow the word said something but its meaning said something totally different and it could mean a million different things for each million ppl who read it and thats how many will this ones a keeper *thumbs up*

[Annabelle Lee]

thqnk you

[Mazie Tackett]

anytime sweetheart

[LA Lorena]

I was going to ask about the switch in narrative, but I see that has been addressed. I like the thought process here, and how the poem evolves as more secrets and folds are added to the paper. One suggestion...the line "down to a thity second"..if you add in a hyphen, it would help. It made me stumble in thought momentarily, switch from fractional numbers to time. Granted, I was only 1/2 way through my first cup of coffee.............Great write, and use of imagination!

[Annabelle Lee]

thank you very very much