"Her Rain"

Her rain fell   

         a deluge of broken dreams,   

                     frustrated desires, missed opportunities   

         drenching the world   

                     with her bitter storms   

Her rain fell   

         a flood of regrets and sublimation   

                     poured onto her children   

         drowning each of them   

                     with her skewed and tainted love   

Her rain fell   

         a watery veil of manipulation   

                     pushing against the banks of reality   

         overflowing her boundaries   

                     with her disillusions and dissatisfaction   

Her rain fell   

Copyright 2012 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

"An Old Friend"

She’s an old friend,   
just a co-worker now—an acquaintance   
We smile when we pass in the hall   
We share complaints about classes, victories with kids   
Lately, she’s lost her smile   
Her usual elegance fades    
Her eyes, downcast as she walks, miss my smiled greetings   
Someone whispers a rumor   
asks what I know—me, the ostrich with her head in the sand   
I look around   
Suddenly I see her loss   
realize her shock and grief   
Stunned, I see them together—       
as she must see them, too       
He sniffs around the other woman like she’s a bitch in heat       
They drive up in the same car       
step out for lunch       
stand together in the hallway       
flirtatiously laughing       
body language that screams—Couple       
What words can I offer?       
advice, as they say, is cheap   
How do I let her know I care   
without letting her painfully realize—   
I know   
(just like everyone else)   
I can talk to her, try to listen, try to be around just a little more   
Her other friends and I can form a safety net   
but we can’t protect her from anger, loss, grief   
We see it in her eyes  
in the way she moves now   
I remember another time when she had no net   
her loss almost killed her    
So, I’ll stand guard

Copyright 1999 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

Just the right song to go with today's poem. 

"Defense Mechanisms"

David Chapman-artist

Defend and Protect at all costs    
bury unpleasant thoughts and feelings under, down, below    
refuse to accept reality    
deny, deny, deny    
change existence and rewrite your life    
fabricate your lies until they morph into your new reality    
regress or act out    
childishly punch the wall of your frustration    
disconnect from your follies    
forget, forget, forget    
place each dissonant thought into a strongbox    
locked away even from yourself    
project your pettiness and bitterness onto the wholesome    
react in opposition with your infantile impulses    
blockade your imperfections behind fantasy    
beat your spouse, kick the dog—never harm yourself    
Defend and Protect at all costs   

 
Copyright 2011 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

"His Easy Smile"

They believed his easy smile   
the laughter at all the right places   
while he cloaked his deception through necessity     
as the world within him clung to distortions   
Illness subtly ate at his reason   
making it impossible to disguise the turmoil within   
unless he buried it under the things he loved:   
games, computers, politics, religion   
Intellect guided him to delude   
to use his words to hide his thoughts   
Need shepherded him to security   
safety with the familiar:   
church and keyboard, childhood ritual and digital certainty   
where he shared with his surrogates     
the Truths he let them see   
Security in his world narrowed down   
into a box of silent despair   
broken only by the words, “I love you”   

Copyright 2011 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

“Coping in Trumpland?”

         I didn’t plan this journey into Trumpland. I didn’t put this nightmare adventure park on my Bucket List of places that I must travel to before I die. Instead, the people around me abducted me. With hands cuffed, feet bound, and mouth duct taped, they forced me to join them.

         I kick and scream and struggle. I resist.

         I don’t want to be here.

        Trumpland feeds fears.

        Trumpland belittles kindness.

         Trumpland strips dignity from its citizens.

         Trumpland operates as a for profit business.

         Trumpland makes up its own rules.

         If I complain, insults thunder over me and drown out my protests.

“Libtard.”

“Stupid Snowflake.”

“Delusional.”

“Communist.”

“Socialist.”

“Mouthy Bitch.”

“Worthless Cunt.”

I respond with phone calls and emails, petitions and protest rallies.

I focus on the one thing I know best—educating those who do not understand. That means I spend hours each day reading, fact checking, and sharing.

I do this because I want to go home.

Copyright 2017 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

  

          

         

“No Shame”

See this world  
            Revolving around you   
            ‘Cause you’re sooooo SPECIAL?   
                        A Disney Princess   
                                    Twisted on the inside    
                                    By your Hypocrisy 
            Your venomous spittle sprays 
                        And you shout your righteous indignation
                               Against those who sustain you, clothe you,      
                                     nurture you  
You—The Beggar—   
            Who bites up to the elbow   
                        Your ravenous maw congealed with  
                                    the flesh of the hands that feed you  

You carry No Shame  

                        For badgering, and belittling, and bullying  
                 No Shame   
                        For the lives you taint with your poison 
                 No Shame  
                        For the pain you reap  
            ‘Cause you’re sooooo SPECIAL— 
With this world  
            Revolving around you  

 

Copyright 2015 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

 

"Mother's Clone"

cradled gently in her arms   

Mother bends her head close to Child   

her finger feathers the pure smooth cheek     

her hair becomes a sheltering shield   

protecting them from prying eyes   

in syncopation Mother and Child breathe   

one without the womb   

Mother’s eyes mist as Child’s hair darkens   

her mouth becomes a rigid line     

when bluish eyes turn brown   

her voice takes on ice     

when others note differences   

in syncopation Mother and Child breathe   

one without the womb   

Mother’s heart hardens   

her Child wields her wayward will   

with terrible temper tantrums   

fists and teeth and legs fighting   

struggling against Mother’s programming   

in syncopation Mother and Child breathe   

one without the womb   

desperation drives Mother’s dissatisfaction   

she tethers Child with demands   

her fears feed phobias and fictional afflictions   

her disappointment distorts her love   

her rejection rips through Child   

in syncopation Mother and Child breathe   

one without the womb

Mother and Child stab and wound   

pushing and pulling in tangled bindings   

never severing the umbilical cord   

they dance in macabre madness   

enmeshed and ensnared within their love-hate trap   

in syncopation Mother and Child breathe   

one without the womb

Copyright 2011 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman

“His Easy Smile”

They believed his easy smile   

the laughter at all the right places   

while he cloaked his deception through necessity     

as the world within him clung to distortions   

Illness subtly ate at his reason   

making it impossible to disguise the turmoil within   

unless he buried it under the things he loved:   

games, computers, politics, religion   

Intellect guided him to delude   

to use his words to hide his thoughts   

Need shepherded him to security   

safety with the familiar:   

church and keyboard, childhood ritual and digital certainty   

where he shared with his surrogates     

the Truths he let them see   

Security in his world narrowed down   

into a box of silent despair   

broken only by the words, “I love you”   

Copyright 2011 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman