Poem: Culling Before
[Let's all pretend that this was actually posted in a timely manner on the 8th. Today El Jay has given me nothing but trouble. *kicks*]
Today's special is a little something I whipped up in the back kitchen in the wee hours.
That is, I'm cheating today and posting a piece I wrote earlier in the month.
Thank you again, tempore, for the vigorous con crit. You are the bee's knees.
Enjoy gang. :D
~~~
Culling Before
Bang fists on stone;
there are easier ways to dowse life
to the surface. The long scar curling
around thumb and index finger,
another landmark, where you give direction
point others past
the street corner where you
turned and turned again.
Grit embedded-
gravel left
its dapple deep,
pale ghosts marking
the river bed and how it
ground in, impressing your
skin when it could not
impress your spirit.
Not a fisher’s wound - this is far too prosaic
an injury, common as road rash
on a skater’s knees.
Tie a knot and remember-
hanging from a hook
is not the same as letting go.
I can’t let this go.
It’s in the ridges of my fingers,
staining crescents at nail root.
Like tree ridges,
bark breaks
and pain humps out
distorting the shapes of big toe,
little toe. A wart migrates
from thumb to thumb, sliding
through bedclothes.
Elbow bends crack and weep,
will not heal.
The unacknowledged cannot be healed.
~~~
As always, con crit is received with gratitude.
Today's special is a little something I whipped up in the back kitchen in the wee hours.
That is, I'm cheating today and posting a piece I wrote earlier in the month.
Thank you again, tempore, for the vigorous con crit. You are the bee's knees.
Enjoy gang. :D
~~~
Culling Before
Bang fists on stone;
there are easier ways to dowse life
to the surface. The long scar curling
around thumb and index finger,
another landmark, where you give direction
point others past
the street corner where you
turned and turned again.
Grit embedded-
gravel left
its dapple deep,
pale ghosts marking
the river bed and how it
ground in, impressing your
skin when it could not
impress your spirit.
Not a fisher’s wound - this is far too prosaic
an injury, common as road rash
on a skater’s knees.
Tie a knot and remember-
hanging from a hook
is not the same as letting go.
I can’t let this go.
It’s in the ridges of my fingers,
staining crescents at nail root.
Like tree ridges,
bark breaks
and pain humps out
distorting the shapes of big toe,
little toe. A wart migrates
from thumb to thumb, sliding
through bedclothes.
Elbow bends crack and weep,
will not heal.
The unacknowledged cannot be healed.
~~~
As always, con crit is received with gratitude.