Susitna Writer's Voice - April 24, 2022 - Breakup, various writers

The second installment on our theme of breakup has 2 poems. The first is by Robin Koger called “Boomerang Breakup”. The second is “Emergence” by Christie Seay.

As the seasons change from Winter to Spring in Alaska, there is still one more season, wedged between those two, that we of the Northland must endure, Breakup.

Boomerang Breakup

I didn’t ask you to support me. 
But you did,
and I became used to it,
day by day,
step by step
you held me up –
you lifted me up.
Until you didn’t. 
I wasn’t ready for this disappointment. 
This deception. 

Everything still looked the same,
but with every step
I could no longer trust you. 
I plunged into the depths. 
Despair engulfed me. 
I allowed myself to mourn your loss
even as the new season beckoned,
bribing me with promises of primroses.

I walk the earth with confidence
once again knowing
I am on stable ground
Sure footed and sure of myself,
Also sure of your inevitable return
and my inevitable dependance
on your fleeting support.

by Robin Koger

Emergence

Breakup – the end of winter and beginning of spring.
Our second breakup since moving to Alaska.
Walking daily, pregnant, down the road,
the increasing muddy road.
Like an elephant in high heels, choosing my steps carefully,
inevitably, failing and sinking to my ankles in mud.
Cursing, frustrated tromping home.
Then, sooner than expected, April 26th, emerges a beautiful baby boy.
A new life fills our world.
It will always be my most memorable breakup.

by Christie Seay