[the poetry billboard] - 'Fright' by Bridget-Rose Lee
 
 
Fright

It’s frightening knowing
when you are going mad

and then more

when returning from madness
to a sanity that’s managed

because that is the

loneliest
fright.


Hands

These hands of mine are so rough
Countless many have said
and see
for themselves

the effects of pumice
on willing hands.


Toys

Toys! Toys,
everywhere!
That would have been the case
If I was not child-giving age.

A Nemo that giggles when pressed
And bubbles still,
when thrown in the deep end
of the tub;

and another underwater one
This one’s from MacDonald’s
It’s Birdie on a seahorse

That would have been the case
If I did not question,
why do those with wings
walk -

Then I got the answer.

They drown faster - surely, yes -
if they choose
to swim instead.

There is also a lime green
polka-dotted
pool ball,
its cheeriness stark
against the every-whelming things
of my room.

Now I understand
Why children bring their toys
everywhere they go.

So when it comes to me,
who’s already come this
far
It’s not all toys that I bring

As I move,
from mother to lovers
from one love to another

the child in me
who takes her toy,
from one room to another.


Childhood

Is the fastest thing
to go
when you become mad
I think it’s because it is
the only thing
true
in growing up.

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