Self-Portrait As A Mourning Dove by Sheree La Puma

Self-Portrait as A Mourning Dove
 
 
To the baby I miscarried in my 20’s
 
I try to hold on to the baby/passing/through me,           soft
                        as a blurred/landscape. Listen for a             coo
                                                after a long season of             silence
has me/pleading for                                                                rescue.
 
A life in seconds, here, then                                       gone.
One of so many wounds that go                             unnoticed.
           
She leaves before she’s ready. A fistful of                            pink
white/dandelion/curls/blown                                   free
into the gold of a California                           sky.
 
Grief has
                        a fundamental need to evolve.
 
I let my mind sleep and my heart numb.
 
Ugly bird with your drawn-out song of          lament,
what do you keep in the years since she        left,
a blank page, shredded, seeds and                   grit?
A bandage of shrubs?
 
Knowing that songs too soon would cause a different
bleeding, a scar grows in the dark of your throat.
 
After the fire/Paradise, screams. Survivors
            keep keys without locks to fit into, tattoo
                        Ponderosa/pines on arms & chests,
the once-ubiquitous trees fueled/flames/stripped
           
bone from skin. This is how you melt into earth,
an irretrievable spillage.
 
I mourn for what seems to be a lifetime, missing
the spring of you.
 
In autumn, when the winds blow/strong & cold,
            I breathe out grey/ash/let singed dreams go.
 
                        But for this, the sky might burn/wild,                      
                                                                                    forever.

From The Ashes - Book Trailer

It's the day when we rise from the ashes. The womxn's anthology is here, an extraordinary collection of poems about love, loss, and life from womxn across the world.

Edited by Amanda McLeod & Mela Blust
Official release date November, 2019

'From The Ashes' is now available for pre-order.
https://www.animalheartpress.net/p/purchase-from-ashes.html

I'm so grateful to have three poems included in this Anthology. * "Anatomy of Grief,” “Boot Print,” & “the lost demi-god children.

Proceeds from the book will be donated to a charity that supports womxn.

Please take a look at the trailer. 💓🙏💓🙏💓🙏💖💖💖💗💗🏵💮 #fromtheashes

Levee Issue Two Launch Party

The Rye Whiskey Review : California Dreamin’ by Sheree La Puma

New Poem up at The Rye Whiskey Review. This one was fun to write. Cheers, all.







The Rye Whiskey Review : California Dreamin’ by Sheree La Puma: I think about today, how my life is detouring. Tripping, can’t catch my breath. Stranded in LaLa Land, a mile from the beach. So close, ...

To the absent, the dead, the estranged: I am Mother

To the absent, the dead, the estranged: I am Mother https://youtu.be/ARk0s39sR7o via @YouTube

I thought I'd share a reading of one of my most personal poems. It was written about my youngest daughter whom I haven't seen in four years. I love and miss her terribly.