Leannne
My Mum
She was the person that never left my side
Always said I was her princess Sweet Pea
But now I see her like this . . .
It breaks my heart
I just break down and cry
I love my Mum she’s my moon, my sun, my stars
She gave me life like the beautiful princess would have
Then one day she was gone.
Like ash blown away in the wind
I find out she’s married he was a nice guy
But four broken ribs, two black eyes
And a broken nose tell a different story
Nothing but tears and sorrow.
These lines from Leanne reveal another young person having to come to terms with overwhelming grief. Here she describes the context for the poem.
‘I was told that when she was like 8 months pregnant with me she was driving around on a Harley. Yup, that’s my Mum.
‘When she got married it all went down hill. She was drinking a big bottle of vodka on her own a day. Cause he’d come home, he’d shout, he’d yell, he’d go out and get drunk and come home and create a really big scene.
‘I woke up Christmas day and I had pains going down my side where two of my ribs had been crushed, and I had a black eye, a broken nose, a dislocated jaw and I’d chipped the bone in my arm there, where me and him had had a big fight. Apparently I really hurt him, but he hurt me more.
‘Months passed, she was drinking more, she was going out more, slowly being taken away from me. In ways I’m sad that she’s gone, but in ways I’m happy because she won’t have to go through the pain and torment he put us through.
‘It kind of made me think if I could write this down, it would be easier, instead of hiding it from everyone else. Writing it down made me feel a bit lighter, like I could keep it away for another day. This is my poem to my late Mum, and it means a lot to me.’