Is Safe a Thing?
©2019 Susan Noyes Anderson
image by Karl Ibri on Unsplash
What is your move
the day you realize
no matter what goes down,
worse things can smite you?
Life Lessons Poems
Writing “life lessons” poems is one of the ways I connect with and learn from life. They help me move myself through the inevitable ups and downs with as much grace as possible. And what better way to find grace than in the words of a poem? Thank you for gracing me with your presence here, and don’t forget to send a request my way before using my life lessons poems. (Please include full copyright information on every copy. For internet use, a link back to the poem on this site is required.)
FINDING THE POEM YOU WANT: As you scroll through this section, read each snippet sample (usually the first four lines) to get a feel for the poem. When you find something you like, click “CONTINUE READING” to view the entire poem.
Innocence Lost
©2019 Susan Noyes Anderson
Image by Shraga Kopstein on Unsplash
At best, you lose your innocence in layers.
Mom’s handwriting shows up on Santa’s card.
A tetherball turns traitorous and clocks you.
Your brother locks you out of your back yard.
The Heart Attack
©2019 Susan Noyes Anderson
Image by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
My heart imploded yesterday
from a surprise attack,
its cause so seemingly benign
my mind keeps going back.
A Mother’s Song
©2011 Susan Noyes Anderson
image used with permission from KmBerggren
I took you in my arms the day you came into this world.
Around your head, it almost seemed that bits of heaven swirled.
I nurtured you and cared for you and read you “Goodnight, Moon.”
But then your life came calling. You slipped away too soon.
Grave Concerns
©2019 Susan Noyes Anderson
image by Jake Blucker on Unsplash
We’re flying down the highway
on a bright, sunshiny day.
The skies are blue, the clouds colored
in white and violet-gray.
Taking Down the House
©2019 Susan Noyes Anderson
Today we bid the house farewell,
last of the last goodbyes.
Bare walls looked down on emptied shelves
as tears welled in our eyes.
The Song of Grief
A little over six months into this journey, I find myself trying to negotiate a sort of uneasy truce with the heartache of losing my son. I am realizing grief will be with me for a lifetime, and I feel like I’m closing in on a vision of how to carry it. On my best days, I let it sing to me, sweet memories of his life and essence that draw me closer to him and to the Savior.
©2019 Susan Noyes Anderson
image by Ines Alvarez Fdez on Unsplash
I think that as the time goes by
I feel your absence more.
The stark finality of it
grows harder to ignore.
Magical Mourning: The Bargaining
©2018 Susan Noyes Anderson
image by Eli Defaria on Unsplash
Sometimes, my brain works overtime,
hell-bent to redesign the past.
What if… If only… Why… Why not…
a litany of grief miscast.