When I looked into the mirror
I knew she wasn’t
there
Lost in some distant place
where sanity, shipwrecked
lie buried in the sand-
Mother’s hallowed sanctuary
where daughters didn’t exist.
Girls-
with boy cropped hair
searching for beauty which wasn’t
there .
Seeking communion-
lost little girls
in grass stained jeans
Digging for China
in backyards
Not to be seen
much less heard
in her silent world
where we never tread.
We never reached China
that far off land
on the other side of the world
Still we dug, reaching and reaching….
To reach for China... maybe a better life without the long hair still... I like this .. made me think
ReplyDeleteThe title itself is intriguing... short hair is beautiful on women; it sad some can7 find it...
ReplyDeletei tried digging to china once in the back yard...we got a bit of a ways down too...we also thought if we did not fall through that maybe it would make a nice bunker...i think though the crux of this is the searching for something different you know....
ReplyDeleteDigging to China.....cool poem.
ReplyDeleteOh, this poem makes my heart ache for young children of parents with mental illness...
ReplyDeleteThought provoking...Especially the way you ended, "Still we dug, reaching and reaching…."
ReplyDeleteI had "boy-cropped" hair (pixie) for so long. My mom thought my hair "too straight" and since I refused to wear pins or do anything with it… A sad poem this, and I can relate to a bit of it… Nice write.
ReplyDeleteA powerful poem. I preferred long hair, but for a year or two, my mother kept it in a sort of pixie style. I tried to dig to China a time or two too.
ReplyDeleteSearching for what Mother was not providing...ooh...that hits the heart. I can see these girls and my heart aches a bit. You tell it so well.
ReplyDelete