Kristen Roddy Poet Free verse

Mother's Lifeline

MOTHERS LIFELINE
They think I'm taking it well, but the truth is it hurts. 

How many times will I grieve you? This isn't even the first.

 You spent years on life support. My voice was the plug.

 Every day, I spent screaming over you, trying to wake you up.

 You thought I was mad? I'd just had enough.

 But it was never anger. It was passionate love, 

from a daughter who didn't want to give you up. 

This grief they feel, I've felt for most of my life. 

So I just thank God, you were sober when you died.

— Kristen Roddy (brooke), Aug 08, 2026

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Alison A Smith September 4, 2026 at 6:30 PM A powerful free-verse elegy, its short, direct lines mirroring the raw exhaustion of loving someone through addiction. The life-support metaphor is especially striking, and the final gratitude that she was sober brings heartbreaking grace to the poem’s long-held grief.