I annoy myself
disappoint myself
come too close
to missing deadlines
go too far
to express my needs
I tell you this
so you know
I am loving you
my neighbor
as I love myself
and there lies the problem
I keep trying to bury
my weaknesses in a hole
rise above my shortcomings
pour cold water over them
turn my frozen spots into a rink
where we can go
iceskating together
stay in the moment
where only fresh air
is slapping us
in the face of a new day
Susan Shea is a retired school psychologist who grew up in Brooklyn, New York and now lives in a forest in Pennsylvania. So grateful to be a full-time poet now, she has written more than 800 poems in the past two years. Within that time, her poems have been published in or are now forthcoming in Chiron Review, ONE ART, Invisible City, Ekstasis, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Green Silk Journal, The Write Launch, The Gentian, Across the Margin, October Hill Magazine, Litbreak Magazine, Poemeleon, Beltway Poetry, Foreshadow, The Loch Raven Review, and others. Within the last few months one of her poems was nominated for Best of the Net by Cosmic Daffodil, and three poems were nominated for a Pushcart Prize by Umbrella Factory Magazine.
