When they cut the wen
\noff your forehead
\nwe cracked birds\u2019 egg
\nthen lobotomy jokes
\nover the loops of blue
\nthread stitched into a
\ngruesome purple scar.
\n
\nOn the car-ride home
\nwe stopped for
\nbowls of cappuccino.
\nIn a snug niche by the
\nwindow: snowfall,
\nsmall-talk. We might
\nhave another day
\nlike this one
\nbut who knew when?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
To guide
\nyour pinewood casket
\ninto the neat
\nrectangular slot
\ncarved in the wet clay<\/p>\n
Like fishermen
\nletting their
\nnets down
\nor the friends
\nof the paralytic in
\nLuke who
\nyanked off roof-
\ntiles, 6 of us<\/p>\n
with straps
\nlooped through
\ncasket handles
\nlowered you
\ninto the ground.<\/p>\n
When the crowd
\nwent in out of
\nwinter rain
\nI dropped down
\ninto the grave
\ncrouched
\non top of the casket<\/p>\n
and rolled up
\nthe slack straps.
\nLike you, perhaps
\nglad to be
\nout of the wind.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Full moon thaw
\nAll night trickle of
\nrun-off on gravel.
\nPiles of wet snow
\ndissolve into standing
\npools in low-spots
\non the field. Locked<\/p>\n
in rogue programs
\nof a sad past
\nwe put our heads down
\nplough into anyone
\nwe come across.
\nOr wheedle and manipulate.<\/p>\n
Islands of yellow grass
\npoke up through the
\npocked snow. Each year
\nwhat seemed to be
\npermafrost softens.<\/p>\n
*<\/p>\n
Snowmelt: cold
\nhollows potholes in
\nsalty asphalt
\nstreaks of white on
\ngrey black lanes<\/p>\n
graded toward the
\ngravel shoulder
\ncracked seam down
\ncenter stitched
\nby faded gold broken
\nline.<\/p>\n
Just as well you
\ndon\u2019t write I
\nguess. Less
\nfriction on the
\nblister. The pond
\nmelts first
\nat the inflow.<\/p>\n
Mantle covers
\nirritant with
\nlayers of the same
\nnacre used to
\ncreate the shell
\nsome foreign object
\na grain of sand
\nlike a seed or
\nsplinter that provokes
\nthe protective case
\nthat becomes the
\npearl.<\/p>\n
Cowed, abject
\nwith cell stripped
\nbare\u2014 no bed, 2
\nfloor mats, a desk
\n3 books and a
\nchair\u2014off the main
\nhall the door
\nleft open to
\ndisplay his
\nsimplicity. And yet
\nafter 50 years of
\nloss, 30 as a monk
\nwith the refinement of
\nlasting grief: clamped
\nin the delicate
\nshell: solid
\npearl.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Beyond the coop
\nsleek half-beached alligators
\nbask in a humid swamp where
\nlight dredges water like a rake<\/p>\n
Not patience\u2014a wide idleness
\na languor that allows all
\nentanglements to fall, slack
\nfish-net to the boat floor<\/p>\n
a palm closing over them, a calm
\nheadiness, shoulder-high
\ncorn in the morning breeze.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hatched When they cut the wen off your forehead we cracked birds\u2019 egg then lobotomy jokes over the loops of blue thread stitched into a gruesome purple scar. On the car-ride home we stopped for bowls of cappuccino. In a snug niche by the window: snowfall, small-talk. We might […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2289,"parent":229,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1422","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1422"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2234,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1422\/revisions\/2234"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mtls.ca\/issue18\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}