Marian Kent is the author of three poetry collections, Heart Container, SUPERPOWERS or: More Poems About Flying, and Responsive Pleading. She lives in western Massachusetts with her family and is bossed around by her cat, Sam.
For the past year (longer, if I'm truthful here)
I've been mostly just scribbling, not much poetry,
lots of anger, lots of anxiety, lots of swearing,
lots of exclamation points, lots of hearts (for those
I use many colors of pens), lots of loving and pride,
lots of hate to be honest, lots of confusion, lots
and lots and lots of stress (I mean lots), lots
of writing down other people's poems, lots of headlines
from the news, lots of garbled up trash (have you ever
seen my handwriting?), lots that amounts to not much
in lots of notebooks but it's April which is poetry month
so here you have my confessional, carry on
Because the path is rocky
uphill
and complicated
Because it’s hard
to keep flowers alive
let alone children
Because I cannot
tell the difference
between well-intentioned
but bumbling
and counterfeit
Because I was taught
to care for myself
and injury
takes its natural course
downstream
unless diverted
I rest by this river
tending young shoots
making friends
with my ambivalence
