In March we asked for entries to a charity anthology where the theme was STOLEN. Kneel Downe's Stolen Indie Anthology is now out but we wanted to share some of the entries here on the website too. Here's Mother Sleeps by Ruth Sabath Rosenthal...
“A noiseless, patient spider, I mark’d, where on a little promontory it stood isolated.” Walt Whitman
Mother sleeps, wilting in her Geri chair,
the corners of her mouth cradling oatmeal
I’d fed her earlier. A lifetime ago

she told me she’d been a tomboy.
This stranger, once that girl, once
my father’s bride, wakes. Whimpers,

grimaces. Her hands grip the wheelchair,
eyes squint shut, head bows. If she prays
it’s to a god I don’t know. I search her

lined face for signs of pain, touch places
on her body thinking if I hit upon a hurt
she’ll wince. She’s still. I’m heartsick

not to know what she feels, thinks,
would say, if only the phantom spinner
hadn’t seized her & stolen her

last chance of speech weeks ago.
Now, through a vacant stare, a patient
noiseless spider eyes its prospective victims.

RUTH SABATH ROSENTHAL is a New York poet, well published in the U.S., and internationally. Her poem “on yet another birthday” was nominated for a Pushcart prize. Ruth has authored five books of poetry: “Facing Home” (a chapbook) -- “Facing Home and beyond” -- “little, but by no means small” -- “Food: Nature vs Nurture” and “Gone, but Not Easily Forgotten” — all available from Amazon.

Please feel free to visit Ruth’s websites: www.newyorkcitypoet.com and www.poetrybyruthsabathrosenthal.com