it is night
and her children
do not know
where she goes
in her head
in the streets
someplace narrow
where the bridge
meets
and there is no
answer
on her face
on her meat
just another
cracked moon
and something
pacing like a
heartbeat
and here she sings:
grave digger
when you dig my grave
can you make it deep
so that i can finally
sleep
but she is not the only
mother
who fears her head
and covers it with
pancakes
and making the bed
so they swallow
sperm and sorrow
and suckle tomorrow
on the myths of money and men
until they balloon
and burst with
marriage
birth
&
cancer
rough roaches
dinning on
cake and compost
blank appetites
garnished by
slices of gingered
vagina
yet they still sing:
grave digger
when you dig my grave
could you make it
shallow
so that i can feel the
rain
and here i am
thirty-two and still
in love with the word
warm
still in love with your
messiah lungs
blue makeup
your token death
i still bleed monthly
in remembrance
at movies
at dinner
at the smell of
toasted christ
in the laundry
and turn inside out
to find your bodies
your epic face
that cleaned plate
and incense bones
until
i
fuck
crazy
magnificently
as only that
will please
kali
but daughter
who i address
in this cigarette silence
when you have reached
the age of coyotes and
blood moons
and understand
god and nails
be shatterproof
be bombproof
be more than a
thin thing
and these
small
motherings
then
will you
hear me sing:
o
grave digger
when you dig my grave
make it echo
and fill it with more
than just
me
Author notes
This piece has bee n mildewing in my mind for quite some time now, but didn't take shape until I heard Dave Matthew's song, 'Grave Digger', which I felt is just a brilliant song about loss and love.
So this is for all the ones that I loved and lost...
NOTE: Some parts quoted from 'Grave Digger'.
onerios13 - August 19, 2004
In a list
A contest entry
- Looking for poets who have been here a really long time! by Auburn Sunrise.
900 points, ended January 25, 14 entries
Bronze trophy winner
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 21 of 21
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This is a fitting poem for me right now, as I just suffered a miscarriage.
It spoke to me so much. Excellent write. Very innovative and gentle while intense (is that even possible? lol).
Thank you for sharing.
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I'm not going to lie....this isn't exactly what I was looking for...
however, I am extremely intrigued by this poem. You have a talent- I love this peice withough exactly knowing why. Best of luck!
[Liz<3 -
I love the lyrical sense to your poetry. The internal rhyme and flow work stunningly, even when you don't have bits of lyrics in there. This has an underlying pain to it, almost like you're trying to suppress it but then that just makes it more painful. But I'm probably wrong
The ending is just indescribable. Funny how one word can strike such emotion in a person. Another amazing one! 
Jeanette*~
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Okay, I heard Willie Nelson sing that one...it's a fish hook for him and for you. You make me love poetry again.
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...I don't even know what to say to this. It's just all kinds of genius. Do you mind if I bookmark this?
-Cristina
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grave digger
when you dig my grave
can you make it deep
so that i can finally
sleep
haha im gonna start asking this to god each night. death can be a good thing. this is a really good poem, i like the beginning the best. the first stanza is me in the last months, except the children and the mother are both me. didnt know how to explain but you stuck the words in my mouth.
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this is among my favorites of yours. i try to think of more to say when i comment on your stuff, but god, i never can.
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Magnifico!!!
I like the sound and meaning of this piece. Wow! Amazing piece and I must say worth my time in reading.
Keep writing. Best of luck
Virgoan
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Wow. This is like a poem about the song of a woman's life or something like that. I don't know. That's just how I read it but it reads like all the ups and downs that we go through as we grow older and try to live our lives. Nothing perfect but there is still beauty in the living. That's what I got from this. You do such nice writing.
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"thirty-two and still in love with the world" sigh
I love reference to Dave Matthew's lyrics, esp.:
grave digger
when you dig my grave
could you make it
shallow
so that I can feel the
rain
this brings out so many emotions in anyone who has lost anyone...
and your ending is superb!
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Progressively Poetic
Pretty impressive. I like it. I'm glad it sat in your grinders for a bit...it had that haunting to it as though it had to splinter, reshape, and take pains to grow into what it is. 'I still bleed monthly....'. I like that a lot for the fact that unless you're a woman (not girl) you'll miss the gravity of the message.
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I've been gone a while and haven't written anything longer than that yet, when I read your writes I'm amazed and feel so, so...inept
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This is just magnificent darling. You know what I liked best? I'm sure you wanna know... "messiah lungs" and "cigarette silence". Just really fresh and innovative concepts and images and something to bite on really and to think over during the day. This is all great great stuff! So I might just give up entering Nicole's contest. This clobbers me. To my grave. lol... brilliant!
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Girl...you had SO better enter! If nothing else because Nik will whine and cry and blubber and guess who'll have to listen to all that??? MOI, that's who! lol Also, I could use the competition...tee hee.
Lub u
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yup~ brilliant is all that comes to mind, well that, and I'm damn envious of your talent.
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I have read and re read this,I cannot find adequate words to praise it but I will say this,I have never wanted a tattoo,I only appreciate tattoo's that are tribal in meaning and yet I had the remarkable thought that if this were a tattoo I would have it etched on my skin,not like those guys that get intoxicated to take the pain but without anaesthetic so that I could FEEL the words and wear them inside and out.I am known for my rambling and obscure comments and this must be truly the most bizarre comment I have left anyone,this touched my soul dear poetess and I thankyou for that.
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Wow, this is brilliant. Sorry I can't say anything useful, but I just loved everything about this poem. It sounds a bit like lyrics.
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wow.
epic. truly.
i've missed these pieces of poetic perfection from you.
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Brilliant as always... and ... posted uncannily quickly. lol. This had to have been a piece you had stashed away for a special occassion Loved that middle long stanza ("she is not the only mother")... those are the kinds of words I can breathe.
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no words can express my emotions
you have said all - and more besides
elaine
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