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14th Anniversary Edition, Live Encounters Poetry & Writing Volume Two Nov-Dec 2023.
Susan Westcott, poem by Susan Westcott.
Friend
I haven’t seen her for years
Now here she is
At my shoulder
Her blue eyes
And crunched smile
Adding poignancy to the market
The lost years between us
There,
In the dark corners in her eyes
How have you been?
Becomes a long answer
Trawling the unanswerable
Poured between us
From her soul
That looks out
Through blue orbs
“I’ve had my son
Living with me
He hasn’t been well”
My heart ached for
Those blue eyes
Turned black
She looked at me
Yearning for connection
I only had questions
My thoughts made comparisons
Aboriginal women
White nosey questions
I asked again
Trying a new warp
In the tapestry
“Sick in body, or mind?”
My slam dunk
Hit her brittle basket
“Both!”
The gong sounded
Silencing the market
Poor blue eyes
Wearing her body
Like a sack
Her edges frayed
poked through a cloth frame
My crispy skin friend
Had no sweet juice
Left
She showed genuine interest,
In my car
We parted
I wondered
How she will look
Next time
© Susan Westcott
Born into a family of professional writers, words were crafted from passion for fun but mostly to lend purpose and meaning to a story. Outside of the family Susan, on the autism spectrum, lived without a diagnosis looking for her tribe and trying to make sense of the world. Art and nature seeded self love and respect for others though meaning, was often inaccessible. Observing colour, form and movement in silence or with sound was an array of sensory textures and after a career in Social Work Susan found self expression in poetry. After successfully raising two young and a public service career she now lives in retirement in Southern Tasmania. Several literary works have been published. Family and Friends appears in an anthology of poems, Quicksilver Water written by women in Tasmania. Susan has written a travel article for a women’s magazine and continues to find her voice.