Though I’m very kidlit focused these days, I’ve been a part of many incredible projects over the years. I just pulled this wonderful anthology off my shelf, Not a Muse: The Inner Lives of Women, a World Poetry Anthology, ed. Kate Rogers and Viki Holmes, Haven Books (July 2010).
My poem, SHOEBOX OF MY LIFE, was included in the section: woman as KEEPER OF SECRETS (page 376)
SHOEBOX OF MY LIFE
Erica Lyons
I left her there
inside that room.
A pool of red tears
claims ownership to
her discarded poplin dress
and forgotten words.
An infestation of ineffectual language.
Solitary letters
cut off from their word source
scamper away
into the hungry mouth of the dark closet.
I silently flee
Yet her syllables and broken syntax
Still stick to me.
I peel them off
to hide inside
the shoebox of my life
where crimson couplets,
faded cards of lost time
and insincere sentiments
are locked away
But there is a slow shame in silent secrets
For there is an inherent danger
in collecting red tears
silent screams
and the ghost of men
dead to me now
inside a cardboard box.
First the edges begin to fray.
Then layers of time
slowly peel
and our lost words spill out.
What legacy is left to tell my daughter?
I am the last of the silent children
of silent men,
Because I say that I am.