Bio

 
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Ann Christine Tabaka was nominated for the 2017 Pushcart Prize in Poetry. She is the winner of Spillwords Press 2020 Publication of the Year, her bio is featured in the “Who’s Who of Emerging Writers 2020 and 2021,” published by Sweetycat Press. She is the author of 14 poetry books and lives in Delaware, USA. She loves gardening and cooking. Chris lives with her husband and four cats. Her most recent credits are: Sparks of Calliope; The Closed Eye Open, Poetic Sun, Tangled Locks Journal, Wild Roof Journal, The American Writers Review, The Scribe Magazine, The Phoenix, Burningword Literary Journal, Muddy River Poetry Review, The Silver Blade, Pomona Valley Review, West Texas Literary Review, The Hungry Chimera, Sheila-Na-Gig, Fourth & Sycamore.
*(a complete list of publications is available upon request)

 

Trigger Warning

as children, we were
poor, hungry, dirty …
a hand-me-down world of shame.

ignominious food donations
walked across a rotting porch.

money poured into whiskey bottles,
drowning miseries of another life.
never a drop of compassion left to spare.

love was rationed out in teardrops,
in-between the rain of guilt
pouring down upon us.

I cried, I hid, I ran away
from nowhere / deep into myself.

chancing upon the hows & whys of life’s events,
my father’s history unfolded truth.

sorrow followed sorrow in every step before.
I learned to heal / I learned to love.

tearing down the mirror of pain,
I walked into the light.

6 thoughts on “Learning to Forgive

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