Mary Sexson

Tipton Poetry Journal – Fall 2021

The Words

Mary Sexson

What do you tell a daughter on the eve of her 37th birthday? That you love her? Unquestionably That you are grateful? Yes. That you are inextricably entwined with her? Of course. So what new words can be spoken on this day? Most importantly, tell her you are glad that she lived, from a cord twisted around her neck as you tried to push her out into this world, to her days at a rehab center shaking off the hold of her addiction, and all the near misses between them. Tell her you embrace it, that you take it into your heart. Tell her that you learn the truth about love every time you are with her.

Mary Sexson is the author of 103 in the Light, Selected Poems 1996-200 (Restoration Press, 2004) and coauthor of Company of Women, New and Selected Poems, (Chatter House Press, 2013). A 3 time Pushcart Prize nominee, her poetry appears or is forthcoming in Flying Island, New Verse News, The World We Live(d) In, Hoosier Lit, Last Stanza Poetry Journal, High Veld Poetry Review, and Anti-Heroin Chic. Her poetry is part of the INverse Poetry Archive, a collection of poetry by Indiana poets, housed at the Indiana State Library.