Monday, March 9, 2020: National Women's Month: Lucy Tate's poem "Of Paper and Petals"

Papers and Petals

The end of our story

is a book thrown away,

forgotten.

Tossed into a fire of all those

what if’s and never was’-

so many words burned away,

now

an unseen flicker, a piece of ash,

dissolved by the flames.

forbidden.

Metal walls, cages, shackles, pin striped suits

separate us further-

forever.

I cannot grasp the fragments left

of those pages torn and shredded

lost to us.

They fall, invisible, though my fingers

lonely, unread pages, as dust

gathers on window sills.

Crisp, perfectly dried flowers

hang from ceilings.

Shall I crush those ancient petals,

squash them in my hands, annihilate what is left of the book

and toss them,

so they might float away with the April wind and rain?

Even if I tried,

you could never be those pages and petals.

© 2020 Lucy Tate

BIO: Lucy Tate is a psychotherapist working with mentally and intellectually 

disabled adults. This is her fifth (and final) career change, having been a burger 

slinger, retail store manager, opera singer, cosmetic counter "beauty adviser" 

and rock and roll video girl in the 80's. 

When not working, Lucy enjoys spending time with her significant other and 

their black cat, Ouigee. A member of a Western Mystery school, Lucy is also 

a priestess of Hekate, an old time kitchen witch, occultist, an oddball, and

a firm believer in "just do your thing and let others do their thing."