I Come From

This is an exercise in prose poetry that anyone can do and is very revealing about who we are and how we became.

 
I Come from a Mother whose longing for her
deceased child kept her from embracing her living one.
I come from playing mumbly peg with a man who somehow hurt me.
I come from hating his helpless, voiceless wife.
I come from Daddy writing a check for everything,
and charging candy on his account at the corner drug store.
I come from saying I don't care while acting out my sorrow.
I come from overwhelming shame where I tried to hurt me to somehow please her.
I come from  being tied down and having my breath taken away over and over again...
I come from terror.
I come from surrender to violation and pain, my dissent unheeded.
allowing them to have my body...I was not there.
I come from smelling shot glasses and filling them with tears.
I come from the solace of numbness, and the blanket of isolation.
I come from picking bouquets of bright colored poppies
for my mommy every spring.
from riding my green bike into the wind escaping the battlefield of my existence..
I come from the kindness of many, the gentle healing hands of a few.
I come from playing the piano and the guitar, poorly at best,
but allowing me to feel, to weep, to praise....writing lyrics with my tears.
I come from being touched by God, literally, profoundly & everlastingly.
And I come from being touched by Him thru the willing hands of His wounded Healers.
I come from being endlessly vulnerable, and always sheilded by Love
I come from playing the Whippenpoof SOng as a very small child
crying for the poor little lamb who had lost its way
I felt then for the one I would become.
I come from Porgy & Bess at 13 crying tears much older than my years.
I was always so very young and so very old at the same time
a complex dicotomy I cannot shed.
I come from hiding myself in the rhythm of cryptic poems to save my sanity.
I come from an accented lyrical voice
that sowed the seeds of freedom in my heart and celebrated when I soared.
I come from powerful faith and tenacious resolve.
I come from the bowels of fear and hopelessness;
I come from wings, from trust, from extrodinary loyalty and fickle insensitivity.
I come from childrens laughter and the indescrible ache from the absence of their song.
I come from the miracle of birth and the relinquishment of my baby girls back to God.
I come from giving my children to their Father and my attempt to survive my failure and my lonliness.
I come from picking door locks on my knees to keep my mother alive.
from watching plates of food sail past my Daddy's head,
beet juices running in rivers of rage down the brand new wallpaper behind him.
I come from never being a part of and never belonging.
I come from the warm hands and open hearts that led me, that fed me on my way.
I come from celebrating my 18th birthday locked in a solitary hole
let out only to be strapped down, gagged, and  rendered uconscious.
My crime?
a free spirit that would not be tamed, and my insistance on the integrity of my being!
I come from the men I have shared my life with.
I come from the great interventions of God,
His hand pulling me literally
 from the fire and the abyss of my own mistakes.
And I come from living in the answer to prayer,
 the manifest joy of my faith....
I come from being and becoming,
I was and I Am!

Reviews

[mysticgmekeepr]

you are absolutely right Ed, it was worth everything. From this perspective I can honestly say I wouldn't change a thing. It was all a gift. Who gets to know these things? The chosen. Thank you for sharing with me.
Boy you really did journey into my poetry.

[Ed Hart]

thank you for writing this...when I read your poetry, I knew it was something; I also come from this; but, for that embrace of the divine that opened our hearts and showed us the vistas, it was worth everything, and more...who gets to know these things that have settled in our hearts...

[All out of words]

There are many parts of this I can eerily relate to, starting with the first two lines.
I don't think I could have put it in words as eloquently as you have.
This was very touching, thank you.

[Your Tasty Field Adviso..]

great piece of work. i love it. i love how you put every good and bad part of your life into one great, well put, well thought out piece of art. great poem.

[EvesDaughter]

this is a very poignant and personal write -
no holds barred, your words drew me in
and I couldn't stop reading. We recognize
ourselves in others...it is what connects us
as human beings, and with this poem I felt
like I knew you...know you. Very well
presented.

[Wildfleour]

This reminds me of a Native American chant. Very moving and full of the power of the past, present and future.

[THERISA]

A very powerful, emotional and personal poem about your faith and a very troubling past. A past that no one should ever have to experience. Expressing the type of abuse that can destroy a person's very soul. Instead it gave you the power to look beyond and find salvation for yourself. Thank you for sharing this very personal poem with us.

Therisa

[WritefromtheHeart]

Oh Mystic....this is so profound...so filled with emotions that make my heart ache...I am mostly speechless and will come back to read again...and again.

[wizthom]

GOD HAS AWAY OF TAKING THOSE HE HAVE USE FOR THU HELL,
AND THU UR WRITE WHAT I SAW MAKES ME HUMBLE MYSELF DOWN BEFORE U,
FOR U BEEN A LUMP OF COAL NOW YOU ARE A DIAMOND..PEACE WIZTHOM