Sculptures

by Francesca West

I went home to visit family

A garden of stone sculptures

Visions from Greek mythology

Versions of a personal hell

I talked to my mother

Eyes gray and dull

Hunched over sadness

Giving up

I touched the stress lines

and glided my hands

along grooves of smooth stone

I can’t relax the anger

or give fluidity to the stiffness.

This family hardens me

to feel lost and without

Engravings of attitudes

stretched across the bottom

to remind me

life’s choices define us

I’ll never visit home again

or see you with light in your eyes

I’ll touch the pain

and internalize my loss

Look where I’m growing hard inside

Define what this stone’s made of

Who I am, and what I represent,

from within where my soul resides

* * * * *

"Sculptures" was first published in Silver City Quarterly Review 2018 Anthology.