Poetry by Sage Ravenwood

​Thomas Wensing CC




Conversations With My Mother

We have the same exact smile.
Except, my upper lip has a slight curl.
My come at me scowl.
Fist earned from speaking out of turn.
Her smile drips fake sincerity. 
                Limpid disappointment in her eyes.
I don’t think she knows how to speak; 
Without an influx of god backing every word,    
                Bless the child mom, dip your prayers in 
                holy water for the accursed.
I used to think her beautiful.
We can’t even look at each other.
A love like ours smells like betrayal. 
Honeysuckle drowning in heavy musk.
My addiction drip line with no rehab.
I couldn’t get enough of her fix. 
               ‘I’ll get it right this time’ life dosage.
Take one bottle down, pass it around,
               there’s a kid out here who wants your love;
               she’s an offshoot of every mistake.
My redemption. Her savior complex.
The yearly birthday call,
                 ’Are we saved yet?’
My doppelgänger choosing her daughter’s fate, 
                lining up the stakes.
There’s so much I want to tell you.
I believed varicose veins were lightning;
Thunder scars etched like tattoos on your legs.
I’m sorry, isn’t an apology.
              My life wasn’t yours to bargain.
Sacrilege is born in a mother’s image.
I want to miss you.
We talk all the time in the mirror.
It’s etched with a lifetime 
              of conversations we’ll never have.
I don’t love you the way you love me.



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​Sage Ravenwood is a deaf Cherokee woman residing in upstate NY with her two rescue dogs, Bjarki and Yazhi, and her one-eyed cat Max. She is an outspoken advocate against animal cruelty and domestic violence. Her work can be found in Glass Poetry - Poets Resist, The Temz Review, Contrary, trampset, Pittsburgh Poetry Journal, Pioneertown Literary, Grain, Sundress Press anthology - The Familiar Wild: On Dogs and Poetry, The Rumpus, Lit Quarterly, PØST, Massachusetts Review, Savant-Garde, ANMLY (Anomaly), River Mouth Review, Native Skin Lit, Santa Clara Review, The Normal School, Pinhole Poetry, UCity Review, Punk Noir, and more forthcoming.