"The rest of us watch from beyond the fence
as the woman moves with her jagged stride
into her pain as if into a slow race."-Margaret Atwood

Golden
by Carmen H Gray

I heard a crack in the giant ship
That held us through the turbulent waters
Every cell inside me wanted to claim
The sticky sweetness of delicious blame
There is no end to the darkness
Only moments of respite 
Like the glints of sunlight on the darkest water
Like witnessing evolution in my son and my daughter
Life is a series of moments of graceful suspension
From the thorns, the suffocation, the stumbling
Like the unassuming fools that we are 
We find ourselves cast into places
Into unforeseen situations and faces
Some of us want nothing more 
Than to point and blame what surrounds us
Some of us want only to bear the burden 
And yet there remains a way out of the dueling pain
Forgiveness is golden