Anti-Heroin Chic
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Music
  • Art
  • Comedy
  • About Our Contributors
  • Masthead
  • Issues
  • About our contributors - 2019
  • About Our Contributors - 2020
  • About Our Contributors - 2021
  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Music
  • Art
  • Comedy
  • About Our Contributors
  • Masthead
  • Issues
  • About our contributors - 2019
  • About Our Contributors - 2020
  • About Our Contributors - 2021
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

​

3/19/2023

Poetry By Sharon SingingMoon

Picture
       Dave Cowley CC



Overdose January 2, 2023

he left us drowning
swimming in a raging sea
his love a needle

foil wrapped pills - unknown
origin – or a bottle
stolen from Breaktime

a year or two or more - no contact
then desperate calls
“send a ticket- bus or plane
it’s raining, cold
in California
miss seeing you at Christmas
I’m tired
in jail in Indiana
in Tennessee
in Missouri
bail me out
I got beat up
my car was stolen
I’m OK
send money
can’t wait to get back on the road”

he was a good playmate -
adulthood beyond his grasp -
he loved his daughter
made a cake for her eighth birthday
loved her but not enough to save her
she found him on the floor
bloody from the face-first-fall
as he collapsed
​

did he know he was dying
somewhere between the high
& the falling
did he remember when he was young
& strong & filled with potential
before he chose the drugs
he thought set him free






Christmas Chaos

We’re happy to hear his voice on the phone
it’s been another year of wondering, worrying
he says he wants to come home for Christmas
he needs a ticket
but first, he needs a copy of his birth certificate
to get a new ID
to pick up the ticket
then he needs to be picked up
at the airport 150 miles away
he arrives at 11 pm
he missed the original flight


There is no luggage

after living on the streets
all has been lost, discarded, traded, stolen
he needs to be treated for lice
the hair buried in the garden
someone takes him shopping for clothes
he asks for money to buy gifts
we’ve learned from the past
no money will be given


He yells that no one trusts him

he curses, calls a friend, slips out
is a no-show for Christmas Eve dinner
rolls in about noon on Christmas day
shaky, smelly, red-eyed
complains about left-overs
opens the hastily gathered gifts
asks for the receipts just in case
we do not ask “where have you been?”
why spoil a perfect family gathering





Sharon SingingMoon is a poet and award-winning visual artist living in mid-Missouri. She draws inspiration from the natural world and our human struggle to balance mind/body/spirit in the face of our own hubris. In between long hikes she dabbles in screen writing and is working on a historical fiction YA novel.  Sharon has a Master’s in Public Administration and worked as a lobbyist for social justice issues, spearheading several progressive advancements in Missouri before retiring to garden, write and travel. Sharon’s work has been published in Interpretations, several volumes of Well Versed anthology, and Silver Birch Press. Her recent poetry collection, Random Seed, can be found at independent bookshops across the mid-West as well as on Amazon.

​
Barbara Leonhard link
4/2/2023 07:17:01 pm

Sharon, these poems paint a vivid portrait of your son and your loss.


Comments are closed.

    Author

    Write something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview.

    Archives

    December 2024
    November 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    March 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.