Mending

She abandons her paints,
…….her brushes,
………the needles and tapestry…
………..lays down the spoon that mixed the batter.

Her eyes exhausted
…….from depression
………that follows mania.

She explodes
………and melts
………..overandoverandoveragain

 

No one understands

…….hushed whispers blame
………..“She’s at it again.”

…….As if
………she can control
………….what is happening

…….in

………her

………..brain

………….&

……………body.

…….Sometimes
………she is locked away,
………..throw away the key.

………The house falls silent

………..Is there silence in the hospital?

……………….No, never in the hospital.

………It is full of noisebustlewordspillsshockreatments.

Drugs dull her

………quiet
………….her creative vigor
……………muted
………she feels like death.

And so
…….she stops.
………Stops the drugs.
………..Stops the treatments.

…….Returns home
………..to her kitchen,
………….to her sewing basket
…….with a needle and thread and half a stitch waiting.

Millie Jackson is a poet and book artist. She taught English and worked in academic libraries until her retirement in 2022.  At the beginning of the pandemic, she returned to writing poetry. Her chapbook Here was published in 2023. She has held residencies at Rockvale Writers’ Colony in College Grove, TN. Previous work appeared in the Grand Valley Review.