Note: I joined Prose three years ago. Since then I've been away. Within a year I lost my daughter, sister, and best friend. I wrote this for my daughter who battled drug addiction.

I tried to hold your heart safe.

Yet even loving hands can tire -

become careless -

fail to grasp

the imminent danger.

This is the truth of life.

We are none of us safe.

We rise, we fall, we break.

Yet, beauty lives in the cracks.

And love heals our mistakes.

We will remember

your kind heart

the beauty of your face.

For beauty unanchored

by memory - is nothing.

Kat Kennedy

(The last two lines are from another of my poems. Heidi loved those lines, so I wrote this around them for her memorial.)

They say the truth will set you free,

     but this is not the case.

Truth's the ruthless enemy --

     the slap across the face.

The unexpected harbinger 

     of sorrow and of pain. 

The dark cloud of a sunny day

      that bursts in sudden rain,

the catching of the breath,

     the stomach's sudden drop,

the tight grip in the chest,

     all from truth are wrought.

So if you wish to live

     your life in happiness,

forgo the search for truth

     and embrace ignorance!

Her ass has grown wide

     from steroids and sitting.

Purple bruises knitting 

     across her arms 

          bring to mind her youth 

          & sweet, summer, berry juice.

But these marks won't wash away

     with floating soap

          in tin tub 

               at end of day.

                                                   Kat Kennedy

Just joined today and I'm loving The Prose so far. There are a lot of talented and creative souls here and I'm looking forward to checking out more of your work as I find my way around. I really like the challenges, even though I may have taken the word count literally, i always enjoy trying to create within a specified boundary.  Next time, I'll read further for the word count rules. Lol. Peace. Kat

(You ask.)

What the fuck 

                       do you think? 

I want to scream,

                       but I smile.

                                                        Kat Kennedy