#inkstainsandheartbeats
I imagine myself, healed
20 years from now
watering houseplants in the green room of my home
I imagine myself, healed
with no more tear tracks down my face
replaced with smile lines and crows feet
I imagine myself, healed
a child looks up at me beaming
asking if we can go down by the river later
On nights when it’s cold and dreary
I imagine myself, healed
and my heart radiates a warmth
no sadness can ever reach
a house with rose-red doors // hnl 2019
I bought a houseplant last month
small, unknowing; it’s a new beginning for us both
my love, he used to tell me I had the worst green thumb
that I over-water and over-trim the leaves
you care too much he’d whisper
I used to believe that too
Today my plant sprouted a new flower
joining her various sisters into this strange world
and I wish I could show him how wrong he was
he never watched me bloom this way
never took the time to water my leaves
or appreciate how well I’m growing
I’m starting to understand that maybe
he didn’t know me as well as he said he did
he never did// hnl 2018
“Healing Prayer”
Words by @girlwithtomatoes. Illustrations by @caolark
Thank you so much for letting me bring another of your beautiful poems to visual life, Sallie! You are amazing ❤️
Thanks@caolark for illustrating another of my poems! I love what you did with it! Yay collaboration!
walking home from favorite cafe:
a small boy rides a two-wheeler,
smoothly, but for the clomping up-downs
of the uneven panes of sidewalk cement,
lifted skyward by tree roots.
these same sidewalks
have hurt my biking butt
many a time. i always
try to bike on the road.
but a kid can’t do that.
his dad trails behind, jogging.
“you’re doing a great job buddy!”
the boy says:
“no i’m not!”
they leave me in their wake,
thinking, why am i so
often like the small
biking boy,
the chastising voice
in the midst of encouragement?
why does he talk to himself
that way?
why do i?
sallie mccann
