Clean Your Room (a conversation with Mental Illness)

My mother lifts the toy chest above her head
and the bedroom absorbs it, scattered colors
left and right, a teddy bear between my feet.

Cupboards slam and doorknobs sink like divers
into the drywall. Mother cries, wails words
at my sisters and I, now shocked awake,

our sleep our dreams a nothingness
compared to the angst she has become.
In haste we gather Barbie dolls, strewn

like victims in a strike-zone.

 

 

About the Poet:
Lisa Zaran is a poet and the author of 8 collections of poetry including Dear Bob Dylan, If It We, The Blondes Lay Content and the sometimes girl. When not writing, Zaran spends her days in Maricopa County jail assisting women with resources and education. She is founder and editor of Contemporary American Voices.

 

 

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