Tabitha Vohn's Blog - Posts Tagged "survival"
One of the Reasons I Love Charlotte Eriksson
"I was younger then and easily fooled
and the ocean was deep and dark and blue
and I took off my shoes to let the water freeze my bones.
I waded until I could no longer walk and it was too cold to swim but
still I kept on walking at the bottom of the sea for I could not tell the
difference between the ocean and the lack of someone I loved and I
had not yet learned how the task of moving on is a muscular task,
a skill you need to learn,
as necessary as survival." (Eriksson, 12)
--from I Go to the Ocean to Say Goodbye
P.S.
If the choice is to move on
or not survive,
I'd rather be food
for the fishes
than to
love you
or miss you
less
than I do
in this moment <3
and the ocean was deep and dark and blue
and I took off my shoes to let the water freeze my bones.
I waded until I could no longer walk and it was too cold to swim but
still I kept on walking at the bottom of the sea for I could not tell the
difference between the ocean and the lack of someone I loved and I
had not yet learned how the task of moving on is a muscular task,
a skill you need to learn,
as necessary as survival." (Eriksson, 12)
--from I Go to the Ocean to Say Goodbye
P.S.
If the choice is to move on
or not survive,
I'd rather be food
for the fishes
than to
love you
or miss you
less
than I do
in this moment <3
Evoke
Foreign Fields
you played in a cold cabin
five am on a
November morning
while my husband & brother
were hunting I
waited in darkness
to run the deer
in a green army jacket
and an old beach chair
staring at a still black
sky through pines & a
dirty windowpane
I could not cry
until I imagined
resting my head
against his collar bone
evoked gray eyes
messy hair
mischievous grin
I mourned
like morning was a
hope I’d never feel on
my skin again
November taught me
Loss
is a living death
the blade points inward
and if You hadn’t come back
I would have grieved you
eternally.
Cobain
you neon angel
we both smelled like
Panic in the days that
He who was dead
yet speaketh
it took trauma
in serrated edges
& night sweats to
bond us
we escaped into
Pearl Jam, Bronte &
backwoods streets
He gave me Mira, a locket
filled with his blood
mornings I’d hold my breath
on the other side of a
locked bedroom door wait
for him to wake up
my bed
was the safest place
for him to sleep
during the day
and he gave me a reason
to rise from it
someone I wanted
to be strong for
You
were my first true Phoenix
& we know what it means
to be beloved
brothers in arms
we proud two
me & you
we survived
Jon BJ
Oh my!
I used to kiss the
shiny paper tattoo
on your four sheet
foldout daydream
before I fell asleep
at night
& she & I
broke our hearts
over your fictional
seductions
idealizing the kind
of love neither of us
knew from fathers
had enough of disgust
or indifference
She & I were two
halves of a have-not
playing at placing
fairy tales in beautiful
bodies long after Barbies
got old
Sister
I want to tell you
that the love at least
was real
we carried it in stars
under our tongues
And Brandi
for the boy who
grew up too fast
and knows the lines
across my face
are only for him
for me
to tell them to
I struggle to find
words to evoke the one
I belong to
so long my second soul
that we move in single
breath
I don’t exist as I am
without You
oh yeah well it’s true
that I was made for you
you played in a cold cabin
five am on a
November morning
while my husband & brother
were hunting I
waited in darkness
to run the deer
in a green army jacket
and an old beach chair
staring at a still black
sky through pines & a
dirty windowpane
I could not cry
until I imagined
resting my head
against his collar bone
evoked gray eyes
messy hair
mischievous grin
I mourned
like morning was a
hope I’d never feel on
my skin again
November taught me
Loss
is a living death
the blade points inward
and if You hadn’t come back
I would have grieved you
eternally.
Cobain
you neon angel
we both smelled like
Panic in the days that
He who was dead
yet speaketh
it took trauma
in serrated edges
& night sweats to
bond us
we escaped into
Pearl Jam, Bronte &
backwoods streets
He gave me Mira, a locket
filled with his blood
mornings I’d hold my breath
on the other side of a
locked bedroom door wait
for him to wake up
my bed
was the safest place
for him to sleep
during the day
and he gave me a reason
to rise from it
someone I wanted
to be strong for
You
were my first true Phoenix
& we know what it means
to be beloved
brothers in arms
we proud two
me & you
we survived
Jon BJ
Oh my!
I used to kiss the
shiny paper tattoo
on your four sheet
foldout daydream
before I fell asleep
at night
& she & I
broke our hearts
over your fictional
seductions
idealizing the kind
of love neither of us
knew from fathers
had enough of disgust
or indifference
She & I were two
halves of a have-not
playing at placing
fairy tales in beautiful
bodies long after Barbies
got old
Sister
I want to tell you
that the love at least
was real
we carried it in stars
under our tongues
And Brandi
for the boy who
grew up too fast
and knows the lines
across my face
are only for him
for me
to tell them to
I struggle to find
words to evoke the one
I belong to
so long my second soul
that we move in single
breath
I don’t exist as I am
without You
oh yeah well it’s true
that I was made for you
