[image source]
Prying Beneath the Mask (section I)
One cannot be angry without flesh:
the sheer weight of being
in gravity’s spell
makes possible the shadow
engendered in tissue,
its consent to time.
Wounds open in the image
one carries as the face
reflected in a puddle of water.
All distortions
root in the space
between a blink of the eye
and the slim memory
of that fleeting instant
of darkness,
recollection of how the wound
was inflicted.
All the retelling
one perceives is the narrative
of a series
of linked events,
snapshots grouped thematically
by the tenuous thread
of I.
_____
Of course,
that tenuous thread
does keep flesh attached to bone,
allows the murky pretense
that where one stands
at this particular moment
can be traced
backwards
in a straight line
to the instant
of conception,
one sperm and one egg
manifesting a spark of light
which grew
moment by moment
to produce the person
who now stands
in the middle of an empty parking lot,
at 2:51 a.m.,
having no idea
what crooked line of god
has shifted the narrative,
fractured
the fragile glass cage
once believed to contain all the words
ever needed to define
one’s self—
left sitting beneath yellow lights
with nothing but a question,
and no voice
offering an answer.
_____
Apparent doubt swims
in the undercurrent of language.
Predictable patterns
of ocean surface
offer only a vague glimpse
of what lurks
in the depths below:
silences between words,
dream images
rising from the reptilian brainstem,
roots of consciousness.
_____
To walk without name
in the tremulous forests
of fear, each step
takes one closer
to a center where silence
ruptures the synaptic maps
of perception: the deafening hum
of molecular energy,
the tonal lucidity
experienced as a dagger
plunged between ribs,
ecstatic blood
falling to earth.
And a human voice
wails as though its feet
were slapped
for the very first time.
Technorati Tags: Poetry, Prying beneath the mask, Perception, Identity, Wounds, Anger, Narrative
Del.Icio.Us Tags: Poetry, Prying beneath the mask, Perception, Identity, Wounds, Anger, Narrative
No comments:
Post a Comment