Thursday, March 18, 2010

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)

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