Girl With Spring In Her Belly~

When I was little I ate flowers

 

Roses found themselves on my tongue

petal by petal

chrysanthemums singed my bow lips with pollen

my smile was Cheshire

a belly full of sunshine

 

When I was little I was scolded for eating flowers

Father said I was enchanted mad enough as it was

no need to push the envelope of sanity

while the handmaid bawled I would die

from eating flowers

and it was that dread warning I remembered

when

in a foreign garden

on a lonely spring day

I ate every bloom

in an alien garden

waiting for the rains to drown me

but all I got for my troubles

was a lousy hospital gown

with an open back

a proper scolding

and a herb garden for my windowsill

a deterrent

which worked

until the next spring

when a rose decided to bloom

in a container of chocolate mint

I named her Paradox

bit her wit from the stem

grew wise

a lot more cheeky

and tad more impossible

for which all I got was a lousy t shirt

with ‘Rutgers Mental Health Center’ in blue

above the left breast pocket

 

I used to eat flowers when I was a little girl

now I keep them in a vase next to little blue pills

I never touch

and a glass of water I pour into the vase

each night

 

 

copyright:2010vssmd/amusemusepress

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Author's Note

~medicating idiosyncracies~numbing down a nation~ destroys its capacity for expressive enchantment~ who is to say what is normal and what is abnormal~ how convenient to label everything a behavioural disorder to the point where everyone believes it and everyone is sweetly numb and going with epic lemming flow over the cliffs~

Reviews

[nono]

Very nice, I wrote a poem like this. Only it has to do with ADHD. One time this kid in my class said "I think I have ADHD, and then he said wait. is that the learning disability one?" And I wanted to yell at him for that, i understand not knowing, but i hate it when people just act out, because they want to be sick. ADHD isn't the hardest thing to live with but it isn't the easiest thing either don't get me wrong, but when you get older it turns into something else. A fantastic write, because I can relate taking a pill everyday because no one wants to deal with you bouncing off the walls while your miserable and people can't even understand...Thank you. An amazing write, and it really kept me going reading this!! Keep up the great work!

[Marianne]

I can't remember who said it, but I love and believe this quote: "We are all normally abnormal."
I know this doesn't quite relate to your musings here of treatment to restore 'normality' gone haywire, yet it speaks of commercialism as the winner !!
I can picture you wanting to know the taste of flowers, prompted by your unique urge to KNOW all there is to know from a very young age.......I remember eating certain weeds which excited my tastebuds every time I spotted them.
I could have been hungry..........
As always, you hit the nail on the head so very powerfully in unique simplicity with stunning conclusion wrapped up in truth !!

[MoonlightIce]

Your very talented with words!I had to reread it several times to understand the meaning behind words.Very good,it kept me interested in what were your next words going to be.(: Its also a nice picture to imagine,kinda funny,just imagine it ;D

[David W Moore III]

Your rants are so much prettier than mine! I think you could write about a garbage truck running off the road into a fetid swamp and ake it sound pretty (I dare you, ridl)

[TAO]

I can appreciate this poem... You have this way of teaching us how to value ourselves as we are. Were you not as strange as you appear to be, your words would mean nothing. You being you makes us love being us. BEAUTIFUL WORK, Goddess Selene. Now I think I'll return to eating sand, and they ask me, I'll tell them it is time that I devour.

[Star Wolf]

I, myself, think it's a lot safer to eat the flowers, like you say, at least you're eating something that is alive and will benefit you not taking pills that only slowly destroy first your mind and spirit then your body. Perhaps that's what the pill givers want. Love your poem, its beautiful and speaks powerfully, at least I thinks so, about not going with the flow.

[Kesha]

I agree with you, who is to say what is normal and abnormal? Both really don't exist actually, because we all have different perspectives, I really as always enjoyed reading this poem! :) Thank you for the share! :)

[Maurice]

What is normal and what is abnormal? It's all relative. You tell a most mesmerizing tale here.

[Larry Dyson]

I never met a "rose" I didnt long to eat...pansies too.. decorated grain meals with them ..ate it all...

[Brad]

amen to that, my friend, this speaks volumes not only as to who you are, but to who we are as well

[.]

ah yes what is normal behaviour? a society which bases it's understand on understands from where and when..the slate of established ideas needs to be wiped clean and we should all eat the flowers and bloom :)