SaltofThaEarth 🥀

Thorn

I know that I run

Hot and cold with you

One week I am after that D

The next week I ghost you

What is this girls problem?

I’m sure you’re asking yourself

Does she even know what she wants?

I don’t know what I want

Better than that I know what I do

I need a safe space

To tell you how He damaged me

Exactly who he left behind

Once he took what he wanted and

deposited in me a life of misery

For the man who would love me

He must understand that with this flower

there is a thorn

Between him and I

must inform so that my

Conscience is clear and…

He can decide for himself

Quite unlike what was did for me in

denying me mine, Choosing for himself

If only for a few

Who are you? Whom do you presume to be?

A sight for my sore eyes and for my soul to feed

This hunger within me…that sees a need

To release at least 3…deep ones in me

That need…you would seem to be able to fill with…

Sweet affirmations and visualistic appeal

With no real effort you seduce my soul…

It seems like second nature to you…,that you…

Know just what to say and just how to deliver

words that…

soothe the aches in my heart as I

I watch my mother die…

This is a death for not only she,

but in you I see a way for me

To leave this place of hurt,

if only for a few…

I can then fall in the midst of you

Between your arms, enfold me and see

What heaven would feel like if I could be…

Yours and maybe you could be mine, If

What you seek in me is there and you find…

that love is a real destination and my

heart, although broken still works just fine

Dating in a pandemic is not what I am used to. Dates for me was going to dinner, watching a movie in a theater while eating popcorn. I have gone to the county fair and sampled the food and ridden giant roller coasters at Magic Mountain on dates. A couple of times I met someone at a club and danced with them. Went home with them. Had breakfast with them the very next day.

I recall feeling safe to get in my dates’ car and even driving out of town with him. It never occurred to me that my date might have nasty thoughts about me. Don’t misunderstand me when I say ‘nasty’ thoughts!! Some nastiness is cool. Like the nasty Janet Jackson means when she sings, “Miss Jackson if you’re nasty!” This is more like Bundy nasty. The nasty thoughts some folks have that created the need for pictures on milk cartons.

I also remember being warned of the dangers of the internet. How once you put something on there it is out there in the universe and irretrievable.

As I consider the things that I have sent out into that universe I chuckle!! Oh well! My personal business is out there in the universe. I don’t know how hard you have to look or who you would have to ask but you could see my ta tas if you wanted! Lol! Possibly more than that. SMH. I can’t blame it on being young and dumb either! I didn’t start up the height of experimentation until my 40’s.

2020 was a year for many firsts. Some Miss Jackson firsts and some just nasty firsts. It introduced me to blackouts and possible roofies, and wicked people who looked friendly. I found myself feeling like Little Red Riding Hood staring at the wolf’s sharp teeth. The smell of his breath offending me as he stands in my face snarling getting ready to eat me!

So what am I supposed to do now? Now that I am traumatized and untrusting of anyone. I don’t know what will become of me. If I don’t figure out how to get past the pain I don’t know how anyone can get close enough to me. Honestly, I don’t know if I can get past it. This pain seems to have me cornered. Convincing me that everyone is nasty. No one is good and I may as well give up. Settle into a monk style life. No love life for me and the tragedy that has become my life will rule.

Merry Jane (Momma)

If my eyes were blue and not brown

I wonder if you could see

That it seems to hard to raise my chin to be

Parallel with the ground

Every day is a step closer for you…further for me

Into a world where you won’t ever be

I’ve known it was coming…we all have that date

To report and pass on from this world and face

Heaven or hell, reincarnation, or something else

Whatever it is I hope for momma she can finally rest…

Right now momma is still here,

so I am going to say,

I love you momma for another day

Inappropriate thoughts

I now have this new zest for life!

So much so that it seems to come off way thirsty I’ve realized lately so,

I thought it better to retreat to my introspection

I know that I am a weird one and I’m ok with that

As long as doing what suits me

with little regard to those who would try

to judge me while having their dirt too doesn’t bother me…I can live with it

We met at a pivotal point in my life

As I was licking my wounds from the hurt I suffered

You told me that he was an idiot

You told me that I was too substantial for a dating site

In the darkness you spoke life into my ear

Regardless of your intent

Whether it was gassing me up with an agenda or not

Those words I believed and I felt like you were my friend

Granted a friend that had inappropriate thoughts about me! Lol

I didn’t do anything to discourage it either! Why tf would I do that? Lol

Please allow me to meet the brilliant mind that is you someday, no rush really!! in person

I promise you I won’t harass you for sex! 

Seriously I’m ALL bark and zero bite 臘‍♀️

Honestly 50 is feeling like that being by myself is the key to happiness

Denial

…denial helps us minimize the overwhelming pain of loss. As we process the reality of our loss, we are also trying to survive emotional pain.

I do not want to mourn for my mother while she is yet alive…but I do…every day.. I want to coach her onto her feet again, but she won’t even try anymore…She pretends to but then when we come to her bedside to assist she says that she is too weak..she is beginning to cough now..I say to myself, “COVID19 is claiming another one…if her…than why not me?..I have been caring for her for almost 6 weeks…is this my very near future? I do not want to begin the 5 stages on myself but something inside me nags at the idea that I am in the stage of denial already…I have not been tested..i don’t have a cough..no fever…no flu like symptoms of any kind so I believe my body and don’t stress about it. Hell! I got enough stress…I got school…I got momma…I got Mo..well Mo is a necessary dependent. He helps me care for his gma…I worry about him too…We are in her face everyday…Mo…my gentle giant of a son loves his gma…he helps and has not said a word about her being positive for COVID19..I do not want to let me thoughts torment me of this being his future either…we wear the N95 masks..we wash our hands and use hand sanitizer when leaving her room..I pray this is not a stage of denial..If so I got some shit I want to make sure is heard before I go out into the universe to discover there has gotta be something better than this!!!!

I would still take care of my momma knowing that it would kill me too..No regrets…If I have my way she will die with me holding her hand..we were not always sweet to one another…We both failed to meet each others needs at times…momma always loved me…I always loved her and I will continue to love her until I die…she was good to me…I guess there is really no way that I can hold off the grieving for momma while watching her want so badly to get out of that bed and not being able to even bend her legs or her waist…it is as if rigor mortis is setting in slowly and her mind and heart have not accepted death…so she lays in the bed in a partially paralyzed body…it hurts momma…to watch you fight…hurts to see you hurt…i wish I could do more to comfort you…even hugs hurt you…i kiss you on the forehead and say to you, “I love you momma.” I will leave you so you can rest now…every time you say,”I love you too.” I hope that it is not the last time…

Wee Hours

I read somewhere that writers are their most productive, or insightful in the wee hours of the night. I cannot help but acknowledge this statement to be true for me. I am a writer. I used to think that one day I would become a writer, but everyday I am writing something! Now I don’t count to do lists and grocery lists in there just FYI! It may be only in my head sometimes because my hands are full and I can’t write at the moment. Yet and still every day I write.

I am enrolled in an advanced writing course this semester and I am assigned a few papers to write. I know that my instructor can critique and teach me things that will aid me in my writing but I am having it hard sitting down to write for class. It feels constricting. I want to think and ruminate on whatever is on my mind and write. I want and need the nstruction, because I want to be a successful and hopefully paid writer someday soon. Some folks will say that many successful authors were not formally educated and I know that already. I am a student and I want to take advantage of what University can do for me. My mind state needs to change to that frequency instead of the slave one that I am on! SMH!

It is 5:03 am…I have been up since 2 am. when my son came to my door and asked for help with grandma. “She has been crying out for help for 2 hours now, and I don’t know what she needs ” he says. We go in her room together and roll her over to her opposite hip. The nurse informed me that she should never lie on her back because of the diabetic ulcer on her tailbone. Of course I wouldn’t leave her laying on her back anymore after the night. I found her choking on her own bile because she was too weak to roll over!

Oh momma…I’m so sorry that you are clinging to life in this sick and decaying body. It is hard to watch my momma die. I am having a rough time typing because my vision is blurred by the tears welling up in my eyes. I brought her home from the home because I wanted to be with her when she died. I didn’t want her to be in a covid restricted nursing home where I could not sit at her bedside and hold her hand. Caring for her myself is hard, and I know that I am overwhelmed, but I want mommy to be at home. She loves this house and wants to be here. Life will carry on for me beyond hers I think. You never really know though do you? Who’s to say that I will outlive her? She may be older, sicker, and closer to death than me but it means nothing. I am hoping that I do outlive her. At least long enough to hold her hand when she goes. I love you momma… I dont want you to ever die but I know that you can’t stay so I will be here for you now. Although it hurts to watch you struggle to move, and cry out in pain I will keep telling you that it will be ok. I will keep telling you that I will be fine and you don’t need to worry. You did a great job raising me, even though I gave you shit on the regular! I am glad that I have you and I want to be sure that you know that you are loved and cherished by your baby girl Vickie

The book of D-Eli

Imagine you’re in a deserted place. It’s quiet with exception to the wind and everything around you appears to have survived the apocalypse. You squint your eyes as you do a quick survey of your surroundings. The sunshine is bright even though its rays shine grey because of the overcast. The winds’ whistles are alternately sounding off between gusts of dust and tumbleweeds whipping through. You look for the breeze to refresh you but instead it encourages beads of sweat to run into your eyes. You continue to walk down the road scanning the horizon for life and some evidence that you are not alone to no avail.

As days turn into weeks you settle into your new normal. Every day is the same. You wake up early and search for food and hope that this is the day that you find someone else wandering around looking for you. You walk around the abandoned buildings looking through remnants of yesterday. The thought crosses your mind of how you used to wish for a few minutes to yourself. Your life was always commanding your attention. Mom needed your help with preparing a meal, or your daughter wanted to show you the picture she drew at school. No longer do you have to rush to be on time cause you’ve got more time than you can stand and it’s a lonely life.

The day comes along when the sun shines brighter than before. You’re not sure what is going to happen but you know that something has got to give. Your life just couldn’t be meant to be lived out alone.

You’re walking along a dusty street and you notice the streetlight change to “Walk”. Startled you think to yourself have they been working the whole time? You turn around to return to your makeshift home in a office building and you bump into him.

What the hell? You think and you back up a bit to get a glimpse of the stranger. He’s quite ordinary, about the same height as you but definitely more muscular. The time that has elapsed since you last saw another human being strongly affects your perception. If your loneliness was hunger, and his presence was food you would be drooling over the sight and aroma of this feast!

“How long have you been here?” The stranger asks. “I don’t know. Where did you come from?” You say. “ I honestly don’t know how long I have been here. I’ve lost track of time.” You exchange words. You compare notes. Neither of you really knows what happened to everyone else but you are grateful to have found each other.

The stranger stays with you. He had, like you, been wandering around looking for someone else for longer than he cared to remember.

With no one else around besides the two of you, you begin to form a relationship. You talk and get to know each other. You discover this stranger is attractive and not just because he’s the only man on earth! He speaks with an eloquent tone and you are pleased to witness his movements and you listen. It’s not long before you notice his energy drawing you in and you want to touch him and do things to please him. You’re so excited about it that you have to share with him. You spoil the mood by talking too much and he doesn’t want to discourage you so he just sits there and suffers through it. He watches your lips move as you speak and he hears sounds coming from your mouth but all he can think about is how soft those lips would feel wrapped around his dicc.

He smiles and nods when it seems the inflection in your speech summons a response. Still hearing you but detecting no language at all. Finally, he interrupts you, he takes a moment to touch your face causing you to catch your breath. He stares into your eyes as if to inspect your soul and you fall in love in that moment. It was through no effort of his to win your heart but you fell in love. He did nothing extraordinary nor did he earn it but you gave him your heart. Why? It’s simple.

You saw me.

Death Rattle or death wish?

Is the sound of a death rattle like the smell of rotting flesh? Like when first you detected the smell of a dead body somehow you knew… I awoke to find momma had vomited again and was wet and clammy. I cleaned up around her and cut the soaking wet shirt off of her.

She’s dead weight right now, almost.

She was breathing and sleeping quietly when I found her laying in her own vomit… I have lost count of how many times I’ve been here… I am growing weary of watching her suffer… I know that the day will come when I won’t have her to care for anymore…Soon the day will come when I wish she could be here for me like she was all my life.

Momma has always been good to me. Not always nice and sweet but good to me. I fantasize about that day you know? The day when I want to see her and talk to her and laugh about whatever. I reminisce on those days already…momma has been sick for a very long time. We haven’t sat and watched a western in over a year…I am so delirious and sleep deprived that I don’t remember what we watched the night I brought momma home (from the Covid-19 ravaged nursing home) one month and 6 days ago.

I am listening to the music on my phone right now as I sit on my couch and type this note in the dark…I don’t want to hear momma snoring and breathing like she is right now… I don’t want to be awake for this…she’s coughing and all I can think is COVID-19 is killing her. I don’t want to, but the next question is will this be me a month from now? Such an awful state this world is in…still I would hate to leave it… I think 🤔

Faith or failure

Norman Vincent Peale once said, “Any fact facing us is not as important as our attitude toward it, for that determines our success or failure. The way you think about a fact may defeat you before you ever do anything about it. You are overcome by the fact because you think you are.”

PART A

The author’s argument is that sometimes things that we face in life, especially the ones that seem to have an impossible end, we are most successful at when the end goal is to do the very best that we can, instead of deciding that it would be too difficult to try at all. *

I must take a stand in support of this author and his statement because, as I am a returning college student (at 50 years old), the primary direct caretaker to my very sick 83- year-old mother. She was admitted into a skilled nursing facility in November of 2019 after falling and breaking her leg in the hallway. I have been taking care of her since 2005 when she was being discharged from the hospital after having suffered a gangrenous gall bladder infection. This infection caused her to need surgery. While being discharged the doctor recommended a skilled nursing home because she lived alone.

Once Momma heard that she could not go home she became inconsolable. Stating, “I just want to go home!” I was trapped in an abusive marriage because I only had a part time job. Momma needing a room mate and my needing a place to stay proved to be a good opportunity for the both of us. However, it would not be easy because momma and I never see eye to eye on anything! I always thought that she was just deluded and stuck in the ways and beliefs of her generation, and that she couldn’t understand my plight. Now that she is very sick with COVID-19, and bed bound I understand that I cannot take as good care of her physical body as a skilled nursing unit with numerous CNA’s and nurses, but I can have a good attitude about the subpar physical care that I am providing her is unmatched by the emotional and spiritual care she is getting here. Momma fights me everyday when I try to encourage her out of the bed. She keeps saying, “I can’t do it!” I keep saying “Well if you have already decided that you cannot then you will not.” A few days ago, I got her to stand up out of the bed. After reminding her that she had just been given a blood transfusion, and how that new blood has the power of life in it and that her legs were stronger than before. I coached her into believing that she could trust her legs, and she did, and she stood up and used her bedside commode. This is another confirmation that success is more about your attitude towards a certain task than it is about your actual performance. I believe that I can be successful at caring for my dying mother because I am doing it. I am not constantly complaining about how difficult it is to attend University, take care of a bed bound incontinent 200 lb. elderly, cranky, dementia-plagued mother, with some semblance of a life for myself (what little there is) and that is to me success.

Momma believed me when I told her that the blood transfusion made her stronger, and that she was no longer as weak as she was before she got the blood. I encouraged her to trust her legs and stand up, because the blood would give her the strength to stand. She stood that day. Her attitude shifted from defeat to success because she believed me and trusted her legs.