Category: Pain

Lisa Senters is a writer I’ve been reading on Medium for a few years so when the time came for her to be added as a contributor for A Cornered Gurl, I was overwhelmed with excitement. I love what she does with words–how she can forge simple connections with them by the way she places them. She is a words-worker who doesn’t shy away from being vulnerable and sharing raw and heavy work with us. The poem that lands her this feature is the aptly titled, “Don’t wait to speak it.” I think you’ll understand why sharing this is important when you read it.

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Don’t wait to speak it.

I have something important to tell you.
But, I’ll wait.

After the knock at your door
and the fucking divorce papers.

I feel pain in my heart
when you say
you are heartbroken.

I remember the poor boy,
from the projects,
the foster kid.

I toted the red balloons and roses
you gave me, class to class
on Valentine’s Day.

I carried them home,
balloons bobbing, tap-tap
at the top of the school bus.

That was in 1986.
So it goes to say
I’m terribly proud of you.

I see a grown man
with the soul of a poor boy
who loves no less than fully.

A good father.
A good husband.
A good family man.

I’m so sorry.

When you told me that you moved
into an unfurnished apartment
and, she has the kids,

I had tried to imagine
how you must feel.

How could I know that
you didn’t want to be alive?

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Originally published in A Cornered Gurl via Medium.