21 Day Challenge | Day 21 | Inseparable / Three Weeks

21. Inseparable

We were the best of friends,
inseparable in
fun, laughter.

I don’t know
when
the drift
began.

It became complete
when her
response to the death
of my child
was a fifth of
vodka
and a stack of
stupid comedies.

Funny how death
separates the inseparable.


22. Three Weeks

Three weeks
have passed.

Three weeks in which I have
eaten (too much), slept (not well),
bathed, run errands, worked, and
watched my daughter.

Three weeks which have seemed
as long as
three years
but which have served
to dull the
pain
somewhat.

Three weeks in which I have
stayed as busy as humanly
possible.

Because to slow down
enough to think
would mean
to feel and
to feel has been
too painful
for words.

I believe
that it is
time
to slow down.

21 Day Challenge | Day 20 | Hope was Born Today

20. Hope was Born Today

A baby was born today.
A baby whose parents lost their
firstborn, stillborn.
A baby who will never know her
older brother.

Hope was born today.

21 Day Challenge | Day 19 | Who Will Care for Her

19. Who Will Care for Her / The Ortiz Stabbings

Her picture is wild-eyed,
frantic.
She stabbed her babies,
three of them,
multiple times.

And called her
boyfriend’s mother
to say,
“the children are dead.”

The tears form a
torrent
down my face.

How can she not realize how
much beyond value,
how
sacred,
each of those fragile
bodies
is?

How can she
erase
those tiny
souls?

The children
will
live
and their
grandmother
will care for
them.

I am
lucky.
Though my pain
will not
vanish
altogether,
I will live
and people
will care for
me.

But who will care for
this girl,
when she
realizes
what she has
lost?


Courant Article re: Ortiz Custody Hearing