First Stage
Unwilling to wait
for the secession of breath
from history
I study the Tarot
phrenology
and ephemerides
Seeking arrest in arcane rituals
succour on phantom altars
hope in despair’s wake
Like a prodigy
lapping the stages of grief
I advance to immobility
Second Stage
“Take your support where you find it”
advised a sister
who inherited in a day
five children to her four
Plus parents
made a soccer team
Mick Jagger screamed
“You don’t always get what you want.”
A gift with consequences
and rewards
Beatification assured
Third Stage
Tears like acid rain
she weeps in plain sight
unashamed
excoriating the whole world
with her pain
That one is tragic
valetudinary
wears suffering like a badge
Fourth Stage
Betrayal has its own aroma
scenting victim
and transgressor
Your organs betray you
flickering off and off
You said, “I thought
they’d make an exception
in my case”
when you talked of death
It made me wince
Fifth Stage
I gaze upon my fingertips
I pray the incantation
to write you into my being
So many words have flowed
between us
So many joys we’ve shared
So many words forsake us
So many worlds unshared
Obedience to biology
Surrender to the Wheel
I am comforted
by contemplation
of your molecules
5 comments:
A true fleshing out of the phenomenon of grief -- I really like this poem. Especially the fifth stage, and being comforted by contemplation of the molecules. Oh yes. True in the deepest way.
I like this one a lot.
Very...like mine.
Contemplate the molecules that make us so alike.
C,
You'll have to remind me of when/where you wrote "Contemplate the molecules that make us so alike." I don't recall. . .
It wasn't a reference to a poem I made, just using your metaphor to say we're alike and it's strange how genetics work like that.
C,
Thanks for the clarification.
I wonder if it's genes or memes?
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