The First Poetry Prize Winner –
SUMMER 2024
is Diamond Washington
of Lewiston, Maine – USA
“Fragile”
Long before you came to me,
I was once young, small, impressionable,
as they say, soaking in the world around me
paying for the sins of my father who deserted me.
Bleeding tears and a burning plea for help that
were taken as signs of weakness, told over and over
“you’re so ungrateful”, so I searched and found a bottle
the perfect size for me and put every emotion, wound, and
cut in the bottle safely. They stayed tucked away until they
found my bottle and shattered it to pieces and everything
I was, fell apart, staining the pieces of broken glass,
walked over and stepped on. I picked up what parts of me
I could save, keeping them together by tape and sometimes glue.
I often thought that if I was stronger, I could have fought them off longer.
As the years passed, the broken pieces from before remained the same,
but on one rainy Sunday afternoon,
the sun escaped the clouds, and the heavens shined on you.
You looked at me and saw me as me.
I wasn’t broken or weak, just fragile and needed
a sticker that said handle with care.
You patched all the missing parts filling the cracks
that were the voids that were made of me.
You loved me until I saw myself in all the wondrous ways
that I never saw in myself,
giving me enough love to heal,
enough love to give when I felt I was never enough,
enough love, so much love for the both of us.
# # #
By Diamond Washington
About the poet:
I’m from Atlanta, Georgia, born and raised. I relocated to Lewiston, Maine in October last year. I’m a self-published author, and most of my work is a compilation of pieces that describe love, pain, and healing. My most recent title is “The Blooming Heart”. I am also a happy mother of five and current student at Southern New Hampshire University. I appreciate you taking the time to look over my work. Thank you.
