Original DDE™ surrealistic art entitled “Sweet Silver Steel” by: rob kistner © 9/9/24
He makes his way carefully
past the shallow-breathed crumple
that lay milky-eyed in a heap
un-moving on the floor
save a twitch of the sodden head
this wreckage is his mother
she remains slack
death-like
nocturne angels of sweet release
had laid down lush upon her
in fevered embrace
lustfully conjured
by last night’s spoon and lance
skewered silver
deep in the soured vein
mama — why do you want to die
only silence
mama
don’t you care
don’t you know I need you
to himself
as tears begin to well
I am haunted…
by how much
our mothers do not know
he angles to the bathroom
to the scum-brown bowl
to wash his face
a face lit sallow by the yellowed bulb
that hangs bare
eyes of knowing
eyes of sadness
stare into the mirror
broken as his heart…
…then they cry
mama why?
Original DDE™ surrealistic art entitled “MaMa Why?”
by: rob kistner © 9/9/24
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rob kistner © 2024
More poetry at: dVerse
I think even without the pictures this really hits home. The pictures definitely make it more intense. A sad and tragic reality more than ever before. So many grandparents are raising grandchildren because of the opioid epidemic. Thank you for responding to the prompt, Rob.
You are most welcome Melissa. In my years in the rock band scene I lost a number of friends, men and women, to the spoon and lance — and now it’s opioids. I haven’t gotten high on alcohol, weed, or recreational drugs of any kind since 1983. I discovered they interfered with my natural high of creativity. Besides, 20 years were enough. 🙂
A testament to the children of addict mothers, Rob. I’ve known a few wreckages of mothers. It makes me wonder how they got that way.
They get that way via sadness and access. We can’t control sadness, and we clever humans are still unable to construct an intelligent and effective monitoring system to control access. The later is infected with another human malady — greed. 😐
Such a tragic event and the spoon and lance.
It’s ugly stuff Björn, so I created the verse and accompanying image, to be impactfully ugly.
Whew!!! One of most chilling, attention grabbing prosery pieces ~~ ever. Beautifully composed, Rob. Art is perfect. Music too.
I was recently triggered by a tragedy that touched me. This was an angry write. Sorry for the dark edge Helen. 😐
Ye gods…that was a tough read….very tough…..
I’d like to say well done, and all that, but the read was tough..
I purposely wrote and illustrated it to be hard Ain. It is an ugly, unnecessary tragedy. With the medical industry a key perpetrator. The medical industry, and the wonderful doctors I have been blessed to have gathered round me over the years, have truly extended my life. For that I am most grateful. But the web of irresponsible over-prescribers, fed by greedy Big-Pharma, is darkly dangerous. I keep reading about the continued escalation of the deadly opioid and addictive drug problem here in the US, and found out I quite recently lost a very talented and bright former bandmate to the scourge. He had a wonderful wife, 2 children, and 2 grandchildren — and it triggered me. As I commented to Melissa, in my many years in rock bands, I lost a number of friends, men and women, to the spoon and lance, to meth, to barbiturates, to alcohol — and now it’s opioids. I stopped getting high on anything recreational 4 decades ago. I consider myself lucky— because I partied hard for 20 years while performing.
It is really sad to see not just men and women with families of their own, but also youngsters, teenagers falling prey to the opioid honey trap..
This is a very powerful piece of writing!
Thank you Veera… 🙂
so. sad. so. true.
So foolish… 😐