Jolie Simmons

I Will Never Forgive

I have seen hopes and homes torn away
and evidence of burning
I have heard coarse words in
sheepskin voices hate
from the educated and
hope from the dumb
I have smelled fear
like briny waves of drowning doubt and foam
and desperation like the teacake-shiny
icing sheen of sweat that
covers every inch and
kills
even mockingbirds
I have seen holes filled with
food and small wooden boxes
and yet other holes dug
I have smelled ghosts burning
I have heard trees swear
I have seen what is not there
I have tasted salt and copper and
anger-bitter bile
I have felt foreign
sand between my toes and looked
through coloured beach-glass, waiting
for that vanished "other"
I have worked at gordian
stomach-knots for hours
and days and
years,
wishing for a sharp edge;
wishing.
I have seen all things fall away
I have seen skies go dark and
unbreathable for
days on end;
I have felt wheels turn and grind and break and bend;
I have lost my friend.
All these things I've been and known
and seen through
but I will never forgive
forgetting you.

Jolie Simmons was born under an auspicious sign in June 1967, the summer of love, the day peace was declared from the Six Day War, and has been trying to remedy an incomplete education ever since. A native of Long Island, she most recently finds herself living in Atlanta, by way of West Virginia and D.C.; she plans to live in many, many more places. Both blessed and cursed a Gemini, she writes, designs, photographs, illustrates, prints, sings… and reads everything she can get her hands on. Jolie wrote her first poem at the age of four, has been writing all her life and was published a fair amount when she was much younger but then stopped showing her work for several years. Upon the closing of her twenties, she is pleased to discover a new writer within her psyche and has been stretching her wings and fingers furiously since. She is a core member of The Usual Suspects, an Atlanta-based writers' group, co-producer and -publisher of The Usual Suspects Meet Frankenstein and producer and publisher of the upcoming Bride of The Usual Suspects (both are book & audiobook sets). The latest in a long tradition of late bloomers, she plans to live a long life as it may take a while for her to find time for everything. She hopes to be catching a nap sometime soon.