By Flapper Press Poetry Café:
The Flapper Press Poetry Café continues a new series of articles about favorite lines of poetry and the poets who wrote them. We’re reaching out to poets, writers, and lovers of poetry to submit their favorite lines of poetry and tell us why you love them.
Check out our submission guidelines and send us your favorites!
We'll feature your submission sometime this year on our site!
This week, our submission comes from Flapper Press contributor Renee Franklin.
Renee Franklin writes:
Rachel Franklin, my daughter, wrote this poem when she was 13, fifteen years ago:
Grieving
Silent torture works the best, As if one’s memories were weights, Weighing down the trudging steps Echoing as darkness waits. Thoughts concealed to pass the test of time, So no mortal dared to dream Now come flooding in at midnight’s chime, Making your aching heart scream. You brush away a mourning tear, And hold close to you all you know dear; You reach out, but no one grasps your hand. And without support you can not stand- Trying your hardest to deny, But yet carry it on till you die. It’s all mixed up, too much to bear: Anger, love, hate, and despair. Most losses are spared no tears; But you shall grieve for this throughout the years.
— Rachel Franklin
I have always admired the clear imagery of the first stanza. I identify with the second and third lines even more now that I work out and suffer the burden of actual weights.
Bio for Renee Franklin: Besides valuing poetry, Renee Franklin created a medical device company sales magazine and an entrepreneur newsletter. Presently she is a Johnson County Library creative writing judge and a Columbia Art League "Interpretations" selection. The Box Gallery Ekphrasis exhibit included her interpretive poem in March 2023. Rachel Franklin is excited to return to poetry after years of mostly creating short fiction. As a teen, she placed in slam poetry competitions despite never writing slam-style poems. Her work appeared in Johnson County Library’s magazine Elementia. She currently lives in Baltimore, analyzing data for new health-care models by day. By night she enjoys concerts, Star Trek–themed D&D, giving unsolicited opinions about Shakespeare, and teaching at her synagogue.
To submit your Favorite Poetry Lines for this project, visit our Submission Guidelines page and send us your work!