deepundergroundpoetry.com

Passing through Galveston

Memories of highways,  
truckstops and trailer parks,  
when I kept you moving, moving,  
in those wide-eyed delicate years,  
with your trusting blond head,  
your bag of dolls, fatherless.  
What chance did you ever have?  
 
Misfortune of a teenage mother, me  
full of juvenile incompetence,  
one shitty boyfriend after another,  
food stamps, social workers.  I tried,  
kid, I tried, while you deserved  
swingsets, playdates, dance classes;  
you know, decent foundations.  
 
What have I ever given you, except  
the skill of packing a bag, the art  
of running?  Economy of subsisting  
on a pack of fettucine noodles for a week?  
I keep going back to that Texan café,  
during our last cross-country escape,  
us two in a cracked vinyl booth,  
 
surrounded by truckers in worn jeans,  
as I taught you how to blow bubbles  
in your milk glass—the happy puff  
of your face over the straw, how the sun  
lit up your hair.  If only I could pass back  
through Galveston, beyond that day,  
to rewire your youth, to fix California,  
 
Colorado, our days on the road:  no excuse,  
that I was just a kid myself.  Now I watch you  
with your daughters, with your stable life,  
your kind and firm ways, natural mothering.  
Planted in one spot, flourishing like a flower  
in a sunny window, like all my wishes come true.  
Beautiful girl, I wonder, how you ever beat my odds.  
 
 
 
*Note: This poem also appears in Deuce Coupe 6/11:  
http://deucecoupe.wordpress.com/2011/06/19/passing-through-galveston-by-lauren-tivey/
Written by pyrategurrll (Lauren Tivey)
Published | Edited 3rd Oct 2011
All writing remains the property of the author. Don't use it for any purpose without their permission.
likes 18 reading list entries 8
comments 24 reads 1901
Commenting Preference: 
The author encourages honest critique.

Latest Forum Discussions
SPEAKEASY
Yesterday 11:20pm by Ahavati
SPEAKEASY
Yesterday 11:19pm by Ahavati
POETRY
Yesterday 11:05pm by Grace
COMPETITIONS
Yesterday 9:37pm by Kinkwizard_95
SPEAKEASY
Yesterday 6:23pm by Liziantus-Marantus
COMPETITIONS
Yesterday 5:25pm by ajay