Margaret Sullivan, MFA is an American-Canadian poet and founder and editor in chief of the Journal of Undiscovered Poets www.undiscoveredpoets.com. She is a professor of consumer behaviour, widely published in vinyl music consumption and stigma around mental illness. Margaret authored a poetry collection, Mean Dogs, and has published in The Galway Review, Haiku Canada, Yolk Literary Journal, Pure Slush and , and a children’s book, Jacinta’s Orderly World, with Plumleaf Press, Toronto.

I Was Always Waiting for You

                                                          

It mattered to those who were waiting for me to arrive

that I seized that first breath

that I opened these eyes

 

I opened my eyes

we all open our eyes

after that first breath

 

I looked for you, then I listened

I heard a man’s voice and tried to laugh

but babies can’t laugh, mostly, they cry

 

of course I cried

it wasn’t your voice 

 

At age four I wanted to find you under my pillow

if I just gave up a tooth 

and put it under my pillow

 

I would open my eyes in the morning

and see you in a silver circle 

of shining Mercury 

 

At night I would breathe in a new moon

me and my missing tooth

I’d press my hope inside my dime

 

that the tooth would return

whiter bigger older stronger

something permanent 

 

At five I could find coloured eggs in the grass

presents under a tree

hearts cut out of red paper

 

envelopes addressed in red crayon to me 

six candles on a cake the extra to wish upon

the dawn of kindergarten

 

At six I had scores of words

all of them had meaning—

what they meant to me

 

and what they meant to the world

the same words could sound 

so not- the-same sometimes

 

        your words will never 

        not sound the same

 

At seven I had words with more letters

some appeared on my report card

a dime for an A, a nickel for a B

 

I searched them for lines and for circles

and learned that the shortest distance 

between a vision and a breath

 

what you see 

and what you are trying to see

is the always the same distance 

 

as between opening your eyes 

and finding your love

as between hearing the wrong voice

 

and hearing the right one

as between a man and a woman

and their words

Abecedarian Poem to the Skies

 

Aurora

borealis

center of 

dreams

Enter this

forbidden

garden

hidden

inside its 

jungle

kingdom

Linger in the

midst of

Neptune’s

oracles

Ponder

Question

Remember

Search

Tomorrow

understands

very

well

Xi—brings

yet another

zenith

 What’s in Your Lunchbox?

 

Saint Bernadette was nowhere to be found

No saints no angels

just angry nuns

screaming all around


The nuns were vicious

at the Catholic school

My parents knew it

and sent me anyway

 

Sister Anne tore up my drawing

and threw it on the floor

I used the wrong colours

I wouldn’t get crayons anymore

 

When I think about their religion

I go running

When I think about their religion 

I go running

 

They went through our lunchboxes

to make sure all our food was gone

I hid my sandwich in my pants

and hid my apple in the closet when I got home

 

We weren’t allowed to waste food

Don’t you know kids are starving everywhere

I was only five years old

Why was I supposed to care?

 

When I think about their religion

I go running

Cocaine Waltz

I snorted a line

And I felt really fine

Until I needed a vodka to come down

 

My dealer is my bro

Shows up wherever I go

He’ll come to any old part of town

 

I always beg for a break

But he only will take

Market value for me to cop

 

$120 is a drag

Could’ve bought a new Gucci bag

I wonder if it’s time to stop

 

I dance with coke all night

It’s a terrible fight

To drag into work the next day

 

But here is the joke

I can’t buy any coke

Cuz I’ve snorted all my money away

 

I always beg for a break

But he only will take

Market value for me to cop

 

$120 is a drag

Could’ve bought a new Gucci bag

I wonder if it’s time to stop

Something’s About to Change

I’d like to take someone’s breath away

I’d like to shock them down to their bones

when I walk into a room

I want them to wonder who

 

who is that 

with the white, white hair

Who is that

with the cowboy boots

I don’t believe I’ve seen her before

Is something about to change

 

I’d like someone to take a look at me

And wonder how I got from here to there

All those struggles hopes and dreams

Showed me what I want to share

 

I have a feeling I could change the world

I just need the right people to listen to me

The world is tired it needs a surprise

I want that surprise to be me

 

who is that 

with the white, white hair

Who is that

with the cowboy boots

I don’t believe I’ve seen her before

Is something about to change