The STOPLight

Scary flute

by Heather Johnstone
dedicated to Mark and Andrea, and to all children who share this experience with their mother

Complex unravelings yield to simplicity in age
silent love growing enlarges heart in birthing of child

loving others endures in spite of incestuous pain

My son knows more intimately than any male the consequences of complexities
twisting and turning in womb, adrenaline fed fears

frenetic pace passions birthing, resisting, the erection withstands
I appear through his doubts — I shed my blood with him.

My daughter swam in sadness, a silent courage to absorb
where the fear envelops her brother, she shares the source and
consequences

electrical impulses barely moving with walls absorbing the empty sound
borne of meekness, broken with grief she quietly forms from
another part of me.

They have borne the incestuous cross great joy of birthing,
deep sorrow shares

ending ancestral patterns, virtues intimately connect to vices
complex unravelings, a lot to bear in innocence

A Mother who wails a scary flute.

(When her children were young, Heather played a bamboo flute for them as they settled for the night. One night, her son said, "Mom, you play a scary flute.") A gold award was presented to the author in September for this poem. Heather is a poet and photographer who operates MN / Mexico Support Project, a nonprofit organization in Minnesota which directs material aid to the poor in Mexico and Minnesota. She is a member of the S.T.O.P. Committee.

In 2002 our organization changed its name to Adults Saving Kids. Prior to that we were called A-STOP (Alliance for Speaking Truths On Prostitution), STOP (Speaking Truths On Prostitution), or Grassroots Ministry Alliance.