Today's poem is by Tanya Olson

Don't Come Home
       

she said Don't bring home
she said To me she said
who you are is impossible

Words like seeds root
in unintended places
Corn amid the beans
Volunteers Wrong field

In me the tendril rooted
In me tendrils spread like a bruise

The worst thing she said is not
the most important thing about
her Hurt is not what I remember

Instead I imagine she was
trying to say Life is already
hard Why choose something
to make it harder

Death is most terrible as
the end of a chance to change

Given more time we could have
plowed that moment under
Could have planted it again

Come home she would say
Bring home she would say
To me she would say your life
is a bountiful field of possible

To me there is nothing
you can not do

Tweet

Copyright © 2024 Tanya Olson All rights reserved
from Born Backwards
YesYes Books
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission