She Remains Silent No Longer
By Louise LoCascio Matarazzo
She Remains Silent No Longer
Being raised to please others
It was difficult for her to ask
for what she wanted.
Being reprimanded for not doing things Right.
She silently walked around her kitchen,
Stepping on her own broken heart.
Saying Could-a’ Should-a’
To stamp out his harmful words.
Words that had disintegrated into the ashes
of his non-love. Words that had
sabotaged her self-esteem.
Words that had stamped out her light.
Until one day, desperately holding on to
a slim thought shining out of the darkness,
she stopped trying to be the person
someone else wanted her to be.
Stopped being like a porcelain decorative
Cheshire Cat with a perpetual smile on her face.
And remaining silent no longer
She bought a one-way ticket to Italy,
A bottle of Sangiovese wine
And like Demeter who goes searching
For her daughter Persephone,
She went searching for her own innocent heart.
Louise LoCascio Matarazzo is an artist and a writer. She has published a memoir, “Between Two Worlds: Sicily and America,” the story of an American daughter who traveled to Sicily to unravel her family’s secret past.
Poets with a connection to Martha’s Vineyard are encouraged to submit poems to community@mvtimes.com.