Migration; Happy For You
Migration
Butterlies,
a myriad of color,
skin my muscles
and tendons
and bone,
while pupa
grub my brain
at the cancer
termiting its way
through your temple,
sawdusting your spine
and liver
and femurs –
where millimetered,
angry,
invasive
tumors
dangle carrots
to their friends
to proceed forward –
mob mentality,
swelling
as a drop of milk
o’er painted
watercolor.
My limbs ache
to fly –
fly to you above
the surf’s whipped cream.
But curdled memory
possesses no trace
of purifying thunder
or chlorine for the pool.
Someone forgot to pasteurize
Memory’s milk –
expiration date
offending the nose
even as it buries
Happy For You
I visited today.
He smelled of sweet milk.
He squirmed strongly.
Six to nine month clothing
for eleven weeks.
I used simple sentences
and fragments that
should've been compound-complex
or complex
at least.
But my words were simple,
plain, and false.
I handed you a crotchet’d
bunny and cap and blankie
that my mom stitched
with each breath
for you
not for me.
I lost my pregnancy.
She grew inside my belly
(I like to think it was a she)
for lucky number thirteen weeks -
But life evaded,
gave me the slip
with only a heated blanket
for the agony.
Oh,
and lyrics to keep me company,
“Just be Held.”
I tried to make it a license plate,
but another’d already stolen it.
It seems I’ve been robbed.
But happy for you.
into your closeted shirts.
And there’s no recycling
future gallons
yet unfilled
with migrating wings
never to return home.
Lauren Lindroth is a high school English teacher who discovered a passion for writing creative nonfiction and poetry while teaching Advanced English Language and Composition for six years. In delving into creative nonfiction with her students, Lauren found inspiration to create her own works. Attending UCLA for her Bachelors in English and a soon to be graduate of Southern New Hampshire University with a Masters in English and Creative Writing with a Nonfiction specialization, Lauren enjoys writing poetry memoir essays in particular, and is working on her first book. Lauren is a member of the San Diego Writers and Editors Guild, and always looks forward to attending writing conferences and workshops such as the upcoming 'She Speaks Conference' in July 2019. Lauren resides in San Diego, loving the beauty of the weather and the outdoor lifestyle. She adores her family nearby and her cats Kua and TyTy.