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1.
Blessed rebellion:
Apples in our mouths.
Passion with abandon—
Loving—not loved.
At least he smiled
when skiing.
Provoking me:
My hand; his jaw.
Matador breaks skin—
bull breaks being.
His fists were tiny without me.

2.
American burden:
Flags permanently at half-mast.
Pulled triggers scream:
Entitlement, power, pain.
Bleeding hearts.
Bleeding children.
Frozen cops.
Tuning it out
for ignorant sanity.
Prozac apathy:
No affect. No effect.

3.
Her needle-breaking skin:
Almost invisible.
My small and secret cuts:
Letting.
Pain releases pain
when tears don’t.
Recovery:
Refraining from hurting the hurt.

4.
Stinging silence: covert diseases.
Disordered aches.
Anaphylaxis. Epi shakes.
No explanation, again.
Agony. Anguish.
God loves, not heals.

5.
Soaring with owls
over the ocean…
my sister laughs.
I still hear it.

6.
Wounded, scarred,
I phoenix from ashes.


For poetry and more, visit Mecella.

by Jesse White

Published on October 30, 2024