Saturday, April 03, 2010

Partly Revealed

If I look close enough
in the mirror
I see softly trampled lines
leading from my eyes,
so many tired circuits
relaying books read,
poems written,
tears shed.

Closer still, lines
surround my lips,
carved canyons of past belly
laughs, false and true,
of smiles held for you,
child’s play, day lilies
before they spend themselves
in sweltering summer sun.

If I dropped my robe,
I could touch the crescent
scar under the clavicle,
left from dog’s teeth;
the roughened skin
that failed to take
after the burn ran us
from the farm; the
indent, too small to see
by the aureole but
certain to touch, souvenir
of the biopsy; or the cleft
beneath where once
I linked to my own mother,
where son, then daughter
bellowed forth.

The mirror tells all;
these things I witness,
map of my life, meager, full.

I wonder - do you see my same history?



***

Prompt: Partly ________



Peace, Linda

10 comments:

  1. Linda,

    That is beautiful! I have often thought about the road map - my body - with so many miles and tracks and evidence of my history - and believe me, I have a lot on my road map.

    I love the way you expressed the history of our lives with such personal tenderness for what others may see as flaws and negatives about our bodies.

    Well - done!!

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  2. Beautiful and honest. The lines and scars are reminders of who we are.

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  3. This is brilliant. Such an lovely way of describing your life, in the lines on your body. The imagery was so vivid.

    Jai

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  4. Very telling and immense with mortal gravity. Exquisitely told.

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  5. wonderful in its beauty and honesty Linda...

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  6. Those that would see a similar story/map are true to us, friend or family.
    Really like this one Linda.

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  7. Thanks all. Sometimes the prompt works, and sometimes it doesn't. I'll play with this one a bit more later in the year, I think there's more to say... Peace, Linda

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  8. Sigh.
    Just pure genius.
    Wowsers, Linda, you write like the wind.

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  9. Honesty, acceptance, memories...I've never thought as one's body as a life map, but it's so true, as you've demonstrated here.

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  10. This was another poem that flowed by itself. Still needs some work.

    Everything written this month will need some work, but so far, I'm happy with my first drafts. The words are churning... at last...

    thank you for reading...

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