Author's Note: I wrote this in response to the novel, The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards, and I don't really like this book that much. I don't know why but it's just one of those books that is like ehhh so I haven't really been writing about the book as much as just about random things going on so this is like one of the poems that is actually about the book. This poem is about the nurse who ends up keeping the daughter that the doctor/father gave away and it's kind of about how her life has so much pressure and she feels so pressured to make something out of herself and she's kind of just waiting for life to begin with this weight on her shoulders. I guess, it's just her frustration towards life.
Glass shards scattered across the wood paneled floor
From broken mirrors -- broken bottles
This beauty is a breakdown
The colorful glass comes from pain
A weak soul -- lost in the universe
The broken glass creates
Patterns
Reflecting light off the ceiling -- the walls
The blank white walls
Vibrant with the colors
I look down at my arms
Dots of color speckle my skin
The sunlight shines from between
The thick curtains, that sweep the dusty floor
The colors surround me -- remembering
The musty church pews
Where I, as I kneeled before the alter,
Watched the spots of color
Play across my interlaced fingers
The tall, majestic stain glass windows
Towering over me, overpowering
Beating me down and down
Smashed to the dirty, worn carpet
Quickly -- run over the broken glass
Grab those curtains
And rip them close
Alone at last in this darkness
No more sparkles of color glimmering
On pale white skin
A weak soul -- lost in the universe
Falling Snow
Author's Note: This is my response to the part I read of the novel, A Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards, when a doctor gives his daughter to the nursing aid when his wife births a daughter with Down-Syndrome. I thought this part of the novel was very cruel and depressing but at the same time happy because the father would never have loved her for who she is if they kept her. The nurse ends up taking her in because she couldn't bare giving her away. The first page describes how the doctor is looking out at the snow swirling around and that kind of inspired me. It's kind of a metaphor talking about how even though things might be a little different, doesn't make it any less beautiful or any less valuable. I feel like this is kind of cheesy but I just thought the snow matched well with a theme from the novel.
White snow -- swirling up
Off the ground
Floating up…and up
Above the trees
Sunlight reflecting off
Fresh, white flakes
Then it descends
Down, down -- down
Down to the earth
The pavement where cars came and go
Falling and falling
Past the trees and...
Swirling past the banks
Down to the black pavement
Piling up -- for cars to stomp down
Turning black and dirty
Melting down
Given up on -- forgotten
Your authors note was interesting I didn't really think of that being happy that he gave her up because he would never accept her. Your poem had a really good rhythm to it, it was really cool to read. Although the end had a different twist to it, I thought and made it kind of depressing. I think it fit well though, it was just interesting. I really liked how the 1+2 stanzas went together.
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