Grief Tattoos
GRIEF TATTOOS
There are moments that leave footprints on your soul,
abrasions upon your dignity,
when harbingers of the negative
impart with a lasting kiss
a grief tattoo,
lest you forget that you ever hurt.
Breathing of a wounded wind
is enough to remind you how badly it hurt,
enough to sear the memory into scar.
I own no more of the sky than you,
yet that which surrounds me
is mine, and mine alone.
The question that remains,
the one that no answer will still,
is what do we do with the phantoms,
the ones who whip and play
within my hair,
the ones who cry out
with the voices of hemispheres
and speak directly to my blood?
-----
©2010, 2021 Christopher Reilley
Grief Tattoos is, of course, the title cut from Grief Tattoos, which is out of print, Kindle edition HERE.
Although it is 11 years old, it is a valid response to the latest challenge over at DVerse, check it out!
I would love to know what you thought about this piece.
Please consider leaving a comment.
It certainly is a valid response, Christopher! The idea of a 'grief tattoo' is particularly poignant. 'There are moments that leave footprints on your soul' - so true, so resonant.
ReplyDeleteI love the descriptions... and feel that the pains you are describe are yours and only yours.... the fact you talk about phantoms make me think of the phantom pains after a lost limb... and maybe that is exactly what it is .... absence.
ReplyDeleteChristopher, the first stanza is devastating, and I sense no resolution in the final stanza. They used to do lobotomies for it but that's like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Powerful poem.
ReplyDelete"Tattoo" is appropriate, especially if you consider it as a drumbeat that's always there , a drive you wish you could ignore.
ReplyDeleteLuv your imagery and particularly the final verse
ReplyDeleteMuch💜love
This is incredibly strong writing! I especially resonate with; "Breathing of a wounded wind is enough to remind you how badly it hurt, enough to sear the memory into scar."
ReplyDeleteGreat imagery, there is pain that sticks, and it's ours and ours alone to wrestle with.
ReplyDelete"I own no more of the sky than you,
ReplyDeleteyet that which surrounds me
is mine, and mine alone."
Very powerful write and the title is so appropriate and resonant.
Penetrating truths.
ReplyDeleteI like the concept of a grief tattoo. Nice work.
ReplyDelete