A Poem entitled "Author's Note"

Author’s Note

I was eleven

when I began my mysterious and deepening

relationship with poetry.

It was like my first crush, my first love –

well, next to the boy down the street

who kissed me for the first time,

but that boy's kiss

came and went to the next girl

and poetry has never left me,

even though there were times, even years,

when I left it.

Even then it was always there,

the voice inside the voice,

the intimate one,

the beloved who knows you completely

and still thinks your every move is beautiful.

It has watched me sleep,

witnessed my rage,

fed me when I was starving again and again,

helped me learn the words to pray by

and then let me question

God's every move.

I have never had such a forgiving friend,

such a constant warrior

for my protection,

the guard who never sleeps,

gratefully giving it's life

to keep my truth

safe.

© 1997 Vicky J. Edmonds