Best Poems Written by Shantille Deriger

A Stony Place To Sing

Eyes in a half-opened gaze
Catching their breath after hacking up sea water
Reflections of the sun bouncing as they bob 

'To sing' clearly defined next to my name
I embodied melodic movements and spoke in song
I hypnotized people with my garden of a heart
Each vine enveloping them in rhythmic laughter

Eventually you trapped me in this stony place
Moss hiding secrets of truth and misperceptions
I slip every time my pruney soles try to climb out
As my body skids, I can hear the garden's song
It's song sends me back to before I was conscious

Maybe that little girl is still here
I know my family still holds onto her memory
She teases them through a song, a joke, a story
And they become convinced she has returned
Picking warm cherry tomatoes, saving dying worms
Performing monologues without an audience

For a moment, I am in the heart of the garden
Eventually, it begins to drizzle and I slip
I trip over the vines that once carried me
And, once again, I am washed back to the stony place

Copyright © Shantille Deriger | Year Posted 2023