The fall of the
petals from fruit trees in blossom. A
girl has hurt herself in the school bathroom. This is the time of
year for self-hurt, for the
blossoming of blood. We have children by another and then they are
hurt by their own hand. Those were the days I walked, thinking
overpasses. The man I see
walking the shoulder of Kahekili one day asked me for a cup of coffee. I
saw him yesterday on a side street, carrying a plastic bag. Moving
is existing. We exist insofar as we walk.
My Chinese student asked what I meant by “knock your socks off.”
When asked to tell a lie I
said I saw holes in the older poet's socks. How could that not be
true? The man by the road wears broken slippers. We cannot walk
ourselves whole. Time is poison and preservative. There are holes in
the old film. Someone was walking, but she stepped off.
1 comment:
Is this the one you said not to comment on b/c it felt rough to you? If so, I disagree! I love the movement in here, with the only suggestions being to cut some of the connective stuff: "for self-hurt" I already understand this, and "Moving is existing" - I don't need the bridge to the next sentence.
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