– Four Poems by Carolyn Grisold –
January 10, 2018
We Need to Talk
I have never spoken to you in this voice
My real voice
My one and only true voice
It is deeper and more profound than anything I’ve ever said to you
When I speak to you now
I raise my octave
I shave myself down
I become a little girl so I’ll look up to you
Dependent and insecure
But the truth is I don’t need you
I want you
I want to keep you
But I won’t if things don’t change
And I know they won’t
Until I speak to you in my real voice
My woman voice
My poet voice
This voice –
And either you’ll hear it and you’ll flee
Or hear it and speak back to me
In your own true voice
The one I’ve never heard
Courage (For Gord Downie)
We are all terminal
Headed to our final destination
No matter the flow of traffic
Or whether we know the route
Like the back of our hand
Our hands will age
We can watch progress
Or shape it
Watch time creep down
Paths laid out or hidden
Lumbering us towards
The road’s end
The end’s terrifying
But knowledge is liberating
Knowing we are all terminal
It’s no longer the destination
But the bumps along the way
Dust in the Dark
Why does everything
Look so much cuter
In faraway
Pictures
Makeshift spaces
Seem charming
Cramped places
Seem cozy
A string of bunting
Brightens up
A garden nook
But here at home
All I see is cat hair
Rips everywhere
Makeshift cramped nooks
That are never bright
Because you can’t see
Dust in the dark
Sweet Aroma
Gingerbread men
Sugar cookies
Pecan pie
Mincemeat tarts
Cinnamon buns
And you
About the Author
Carolyn Grisold is working towards her Master of Arts – Integrated Studies degree at Athabasca University. Carolyn received a Bilingual (French/English) Bachelor of Arts with Honours in English and Philosophy minor from Glendon College, York University’s French campus in Toronto, and a post-graduate Certificate in Creative Writing from the Humber School of Writers at Humber College. Carolyn currently lives in Toronto and works as a writer. You can read more of her work at carolyngrisold.com.
Read more poetry on Dreamers Creative Writing, like A Poem for Writers by Shannon Litt.