Guest Poet
Gayle J. Greenlea
Christmas in Newtown
Christmas in Newtown
Wounds, the wounds!
Three to eleven holes in
each small body
a mother’s missing face,
as a lost boy paints
his inner landscape in
blood
Rage splattered
splayed
in a nightmare exhibition
expression of what could
not be said or heard
Babies the cruel and
tender canvas shocking
our senses, stopping our
hearts
unveiling our own
palettes of grief
Wounds abrading, scars
waking
Anger uncoiling
Dab of pink flowered
dress
smudge of fear, red for
Christmas
and brave teachers
falling like strings of fairy lights,
taken down in Newtown for
mourning
Wounds abrading wounds
Brush strokes of anxiety scumbling the city
Guilt over tucking little
ones safely into bed, while
neighbours extinguish Christmas trees and stare at presents
never to be opened.
Children
crying themselves to
sleep disturbed by the ninja
hurling paintball bullets
waking to a day without
their friends
Canvas of loneliness and
isolation, rage and violence,
something
unspeakable we cannot
comprehend
except for the wounds
the wounds that connect
us, broken landscapes we all share
peaks and valleys and
cracked paint
hard crusty places and
raw wet pain
Gritty tears and blinding
grief
Wounds,
the wounds
That’s
where the light shines
Gayle
J. Greenlea
Copyright
2013
Gayle J. Greenlea began writing poetry at age eight, inspired by a love of trees which has remained a central theme throughout her life. Born in Fort Worth, Texas, she now resides in Sydney, Australia where she works as a professional Counselour and Spiritual Care Practitioner in the health system.
A peace and justice advocate for more than three decades, Gayle has worked to further multicultural and interfaith collaboration, provide care and support in the gay community, promote prevention of violence and sexual abuse and ameliorate healing for survivors. She holds an MDiv in theological studies from Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus Ohio and is recipient of the Anna Seidler Award for Systematic Theology, 1988.
One of her poems was commissioned for the Fair-Well to Violence event in San Antonio, Texas in 1995, and she has written liturgy and presided as Celebrant for gatherings of the National Association of Mental Illness and the National Hispanic Ministries Conference for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She has worked as both a print and broadcast journalist, Press Secretary for the Democratic Party and Get Out the Vote in Texas, and co-authored a paper on Spirituality and Health, published in the Australian Health Review, March 2010. Her poem, "Wonderland," received the PROD award from Australian Poetry in 2011.
In addition to poetry, Gayle is writing a novel, sings and plays guitar and dabbles in photography, art, quantum physics, string theory, and cosmology. She has a passion for theatre, nature, Space, cats, coffee, chocolate, cooking, Spanish language and culture, human rights and the dignity of all creatures.