has it ever touched you?
by Linda M. Crate

even daffodils
with their yellow yawn
cannot subdue this beast
of sadness in me,
and i wish i could say
your neglect doesn’t bother me—
but it is the white elephant
in my heart,
the empty tea cup sitting
in the corner gathering dust;
the face of a saint’s cupped hands
reaching for heaven—
yet i wonder if you notice all this aching
in my soul, has it ever touched you?

 

 

About the Poet:  Linda M. Crate is a Pennsylvanian native born in Pittsburgh yet raised in the rural town of Conneautville. She is a two-time Pushcart nominee. Her poetry, short stories, articles, and reviews have been published in a myriad of magazines both online and in print. She has six published chapbooks: A Mermaid Crashing Into Dawn (Fowlpox Press – June 2013), Less Than A Man (The Camel Saloon – January 2014), If Tomorrow Never Comes (Scars Publications, August 2016), My Wings Were Made to Fly (Flutter Press, September 2017),  splintered with terror (Scars Publications, January 2018), More Than Bone Music (Clare Songbirds Publishing House, March 2019), and one micro-chapbook Heaven Instead (Origami Poems Project, May 2018). She is also the author of the novel Phoenix Tears (Czykmate Books, June 2018).