About Christine Holt: 

I am a divorced mother of two that had a severe head trauma injury due to a fall from a horse 5 years ago.

Shortly after the accident – poetry came. The words would just come and I went with it, not understanding how this bump on my head started this? I would be driving to work and they had to be put on paper as soon as I got to my desk.

The accident, kids, divorce, life after divorce and an elderly parent’s health decline. Needless to say, life was giving me the material to work with!

Mary’s Eyes
— Christine Holt
 
Her eyes are clear
As they age
 
Their clearness
Invited me
 
I wanted to
See what they have 
Seen in 94 years
 
Her mother,
Father, siblings
In the tar paper shack
They called home
 
Her father’s desk 
in the attic 
Where she watched him
Pen the paperwork
 
My father’s
Handsome face,
Full of surprise
In front of the tire store
As he is set up by
Mary’s boss
To take her 
To dinner then home
 
Her first born,
Trying to understand
 
Why he would not
Utter his first words
 
The war,
The depression,
The rations of food and gas
Young men leaving home
And some blessed to return
 
Days that we would
Never understand now
 
Her eyes are so clear
Even as age has started
To cloud her mind
 
A long sentence
Will get lost in those eyes
“Keep them short,”
I remind myself.