No Tie-Tle Poem by Anne Marie V. Kennedy

The velvet shadow on frozen skin
Like I know the lie
Words unspoken are never true
You tie and tie and tie

Tie me up and tie me in
A frozen centerpiece on Daddy's skin
A once-loved girl who was never enough
Wanted some more; maybe too much

The love you had is a long-lost dream
The one you adored was a frightening scheme
The one you tied is the one who escaped
The love you had is a sweet sullen rape

Wintering skin on weathering eyes
Long repressed memories on innocent cries
Wanted to show you how I made the world
Wanted to give you my shining white pearl

Merciful Jesus, you weren't the one
My angel of justice, you've come undone
A winter of silence too hard to forget
A flower of torment to mark your regret

Merciless Jesus, your eyes shone like gold
Wanting the flower you didn't behold
Breaking the baby before she could speak
Wanting her brightness to bury and keep

The flowering withers and darkness prevails
The bright little girl makes your heart wail
She ties you with ribbons, shiny and blue
Only to find you inside your balloon.

(1998)