Molting

A dear friend of mine is going through a difficult time right now. To call it a break-up is like calling the Haiti earthquake a tremble. We're talking about a life-altering, ego-crushing, painful situation that nobody should ever have to face. Although there were no vows involved, it's more akin to divorce than anything else.

I found two poems in my sketchbook from senior year. At that time I was getting over a high-school summer crush and my frustration came out in this way. My situation was just silly looking back and I can't even remember which boy this was about. The poems still ring-true to me regarding the emotional notes that I felt at the time. So these are for you my friend-- or anyone else who has faced and survived a painful relationship end.

The Beginning

Leaden worries weigh on weary shoulders of want.

Beauty invades heartache, uninvited.

Wind blown needles of ice stab holes in a protective sweater shell,

Forcing lowered eyes to meet a fresh beginning.

It stems from an end I prayed would never come.

(KEW October 2000)

Molting

As I walked outside today,

The pieces of you melted away.

And ruddy memories, like my foes,

I felt them squish between my toes!

A pebble or root that lay beneath,

Could not injure the moment, sweet.

Even your limp which swelled my knees,

Caressed away by a novel breeze.

The chill that passed upon my spine,

Invigorated my soul's heightened climb.

In flesh I descended unto these slats,

And rested there, true rest at last.

Underneath the boughs of pine,

Simplicity laced all through my mind.

Subtly a moon face warmed,

the tension that my face had worn.

Slowly, surely, and with resolve,

My skin of you began to dissolve.

(KEW February 2001)