October 12th, 2025
Winner: Weekly Poems Contest #15
by Anna Nike Leskowsky
I wish we said thank you
without blaming them
for placing us firmly
in the center of their dreams.
I wish we remembered a teddy bear,
given to us when we were little,
as vividly as we remember
their desire to form us
into their own image,
full of plans for our future
that we decided to reject –
because that was the most natural journey
into our independence.
I wish we didn't abandon them emotionally
after someone suggested
that they could have been irrelevant or annoying.
Were they, though? They're just mom and dad.
I wish I had thanked them more.
Biography of the Poet
Anna Nike Leskowsky is a Toronto based journalist, poet, and a self-taught artist who came to Canada from Poland in 1990
and worked as an elementary school teacher, until she retired in 2018.
She has written articles, first-person essays, modern poetry, sonnets, and haiku.
Anna's writing and art have been featured in many Canadian and international magazines,
such as Canadian Teacher Magazine, Canadian Art Therapy Association Online Magazine Envisage,
and The Secret Door – a Toronto-based online critical arts and culture publication.
Anna's Wax Poetry and Art Artist Page:
waxpoetryart.com/artists/annanikeleskowsky.html
Keywords: Thanksgiving, love for parents, regret
Previously Published in Weekly Poems:
"Cycle of Love" by Kylie Makutu
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