River’s Song

I hide within her rolling peaks and float with ferns that line the river Playing the snapping turtle’s shell pulsating sounds echo in rhythm Scarlet Tanagers singing along with warblers from their thin branches Water moccasins slither like ribbons in the wind close to her long lip Young Blue-fronted Dancers perform a colorful salsa within […]

Carolina Widow

Whispers weave through leaves of seedlings like nimble fingersPulling fine silk threads creating patterns of beauty on loomsGarden spiders drink drops of morning dew from webs proudly craftedSporting bright yellow bodies, alike the color children paint the sunGrubs buried deep in shallow graves thrive in fertile black soil awaitingFeeding on grassroots with ravenous appetites for […]

My Best Book Review

Sometimes we don’t know why we are meant to write what we do; we hope we have a positive impact. A couple of months after publishing my book, I received a letter. A neighbor of mine had bought my book and then shared it with a friend of hers. My neighbor’s friend had lost a […]

A Harvest Psalm

Oh, how the breeze places movement gently upon the wheat in the field of plenty. The soft breath of the wind takes its stretching top, heavy with grain, and gently rocks. Rivers of dazzling dark and light golden color burst forth like a river bounding with fish swimming in timeless schools of laughter. Talk to […]

Merpeople

(A Follow Up to A Tale of Two Widows https://the-inner-child.com/2019/11/22/a-tale-of-two-widows) Reading time for this piece one minute and thirty-three seconds. Dark Crimson is mindfully mingling withthe full moon’s daunting and luminous light.As my clotting blood was slow to tricklefrom my slender ring less fingers tonight.An enigma of my existence to theMerpeople which I did so […]

Once Treeless

Paralyzed by emotions, dismal visions haunt my eye’s memoryFaces in plates, probing hands of strangers, and the smell of pee.Fairy letters under wet pillow laid, hoping they will set me free. A veil of melancholy wraps me like a cocoon as dread is calling.Our neighbor plucks buckshot from the leg, her husband’s shot.The smell of […]

Mistaken Pleasures

Crimson cheeks and curled confusion, you wear upon your head,Satan’s satin covers and putrid odors ornament your bed.Countless corners hold your breath and tremble at your power,So many times, your favor won, with the pardon from a flower. A tongue found bitter from your taste, and yet it won’t recoil,Implanted in a weakling’s eye, another […]

The Lonely Sailor (Part 2)

For Part One click here (Reading time for Part 2 is 6 minutes and 19 seconds) Conscious of the thin sea mist that was clinging to my body, I licked my lips, tasting a hint of salt. My big browns were taking in an exciting array of individuals walking around the boardwalk. Among the men, […]

Lonely Sailor (Part One)

I was stealing out into the darkness of the summer night at sixteen. My senses were still on high alert. I quietly close the basement door of my first unshared bedroom. My parents were lifeless, and when last I did dare to peek into their room, my father lay naked as did my mother on […]

The Lonely Glass

Dark as coal was the night, as my body aches with youthful memories of your tender touches. Days spent in fallow fields with unwavering wildflowers on a tattered quilt tossed in the trunk. The clatter of your camera snapping as I would become Your muse while playing in the water like a child. Dusk by […]