Gothic Grief
written by: Karen Southall Watts
@askkaren
It’s not nearly so romantic and glamorous as it seems
in novels, or in old movies on late night TV,
this slow descent into madness.
Dreams of a dead lover or bouts of melancholia
are harder to explain during a coffee break than they would be
prone on a fainting couch in the front parlor.
And there are no candlelit corridors or
moonlit gardens to wander,
only a smelly stairway with the vestiges
of a neighbor’s attempt to fry fish.
It’s hard to explain.
You are numb from the heart down,
you don’t belong in the budget meeting,
but in a dressing gown, staring out the window,
and no, you cannot “just get over it.”
Karen Southall Watts, is an educator, speaker, coach, and avid walker. Her works have been featured at Fairfield Scribes, Free Flash Fiction, The Drabble, Sledgehammer Lit, 101Words, Paragraph Planet, Soren Lit, Spillwords Press, and The Chamber Magazine. Karen is a three-time Pushcart nominee for poetry. Her poetry chapbook, Desire, Dreams and Dust was released in April of 2023.
Latest posts by Karen Southall Watts (see all)
- Spotlight On Writers – Karen Southall Watts - November 2, 2024
- The Breath of Night - October 26, 2024
- Wish Nocturne - July 5, 2024
