By Jenny Simpson
They told me the world was my oyster
Future like the sky, dreams supersized
I thought I could outrun the pain in my bones
Body of moans, still I kept going.
Till I crashed, shattered, a window of pain
Trying to stand up, collapsed again and again.
Denial wasn’t just a river in my head
As I sank to the bottom of the
I don’t want to sea-bed.
My world became an oyster in an oyster shell
Shut up and shut off, cut off from all is well.
Its salty sting soaking my skin
Open just enough to let a drop of see in.
With it the grit of irritation
Rubbing me raw in consternation.
Could I believe in a front-to-back down-upside whacked
Way to the way it all happens?
Days and babies and years and hope all come to being in darkness.
Nothing was precious until everything was. Pause.
Achingly slow I learned to go with the flow
Dreamed someday and somehow I would some way let go
Of wishing and waiting for life unbroken
Hands soft, fingers brave cautiously open
This oyster is my world, right here is my pearl.
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