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Ben Heine Art Photography
Image Source Sunday Muse # 93 |
I caught the key the crow dropped when she
paused
to eat my heart. I wait for it to grow
back in the sun that squeaks through
concrete walls.
I landed harder than expected from
Alice
in Wonderland. She fell slow-mo—
but a tall building is no rabbit hole.
I need a heart to shrink ego and flesh,
so lie here in the street watching my
soul
frolic with passersby she seems to know.
Impossible! But there she goes, touching
strangers’ hands and dancing with
abandon.
I cannot find my voice to call her back,
so she plays while I burn in quiet pain,
re-growing a working heart. As if
this was the purpose all along: To meet
a crow.
To give my heart. To feel it grow
back slowly safe and sound, stronger,
braver—
ready to find a door that fits the
key.
My blog poems are rough drafts.
Please respect my copyright.
If you quote, credit this page.
© 2020 Susan L. Chast
Please respect my copyright.
If you quote, credit this page.
© 2020 Susan L. Chast
I need a heart to shrink ego and flesh. Wow this is so true and wonderfully written Susan! I love your Alice in Wonderland take on the image! Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed this--it felt like a fable of stasis, then healing.
ReplyDelete"As if this was the purpose all along - to feel it grow"....I do think that is the purpose. The recipe, my friend, always includes sorrow.
ReplyDeleteThat last line is gloriously--and obviously intentionally--backwards! I love it.
ReplyDeleteMay she (we all) find that door.
ReplyDeleteAnd she kept the key. Now just wait for a door. That was my favorite take
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading, I read it as a vignette with more to come. Delicious.
..
A heart regrown with shrunk ego and flesh is the Key to fit all doors I believe. "...the sun that squeaks through concrete walls."---A most needed blessing. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI loved reading this, Susan. Maybe a heart regrown is twice as large.
ReplyDeletea fine amalgamation of fable and reality, the horror of street risks and exposure to other dangers of the world today,a powerful composition of high class poetic drama. Dr Susan you are a gifted poet.
ReplyDelete