Mona Lisa

How many times
Have I said “Use your words”
To quell the impending tantrum
From a frustrated, overwhelmed child
Or a frustrated, overwhelmed me.

How many ways
Did I learn to defuse
And de-escalate the tension
When pain and suffering turned outward
Because the pain had to go somewhere.

How many times
Did I say “It’s okay”
Not knowing if it really was?
But the choice to believe in okay
Was the only choice I could make.

How many times
Did I think “say nothing
if you can’t say anything nice”
When their words landed like sticks and stones
That broke my heart instead of my bones.

How many tears
Have I willed not to fall
So that others felt safe and sound
While I cut tiny half-moon crescents
Into the palms of my tight-clenched fists.

How many times
Must I watch people die
For daring to do the right thing?
And the words disappear from my lips
Because I don’t know what else to say.

A friend of Mona Lisa’s once said, “You’re officially a shit-magnet” in the most caring way possible, to which she replied, “But I’ve handled all of it.” Handling it has included teaching football players to love Shakespeare, raising two profoundly decent humans and several rescue animals, and launching a second career in healthcare at 47. She lives where the heat and insects match her relentless determination to prove that she’s got everything under control, and she’s learned that sometimes, burning bridges is the only way forward.

Her poem How Many is for the mothers, nurses, protectors and poets who live by the words they speak and write, no matter what.

This poem appears in Uprooted: Poems of Resistance, Witness, and Survival (The Chaos Section Poetry Project, Fall 2026). We’re sharing each poem from the collection individually over the coming weeks. You can read the full book or download the free PDF here.