Consecration I declare aloud with harried breath & stuttering heart my gratitude forthe angels/spirits/ancestors who protected me home yesterday as I sped on the expressway expressing panic & urine, unable to seeto inhale, to exhale without electric friction, without head-full prayingto arrive alive, the fear was real, I did not want to die & I didn’t. I… Continue reading POEM A DAY – May 21
Tag: illness
POEM A DAY – May 20
Chest cold It is cold. My chest feels iceberg-ed.My lungs, freezer-burned.This infection is wrecking, wracking.You know the sound of a fingernail on comb teeth? That’s the sound in my throat when I breathe. Airflickering. Yes, I’ve seen the doc.I’ve swallowed the meds, suckedthe meds, slept and slept and now the cold is in the words. At least I can… Continue reading POEM A DAY – May 20
POEM A DAY – March 4
*Gentle Warning:There is an expletive in this poem. Its contents describe a panic attack. panikattack in Ikea. my body undoing in the doing of buying, in the doing of being daughter-side, too many people, too many things, too much ‘this is how to live in spaces with things’, the lights daggering, my eyes double-visioning, lost… Continue reading POEM A DAY – March 4
VANESSA SHIELDS 