"Tension In the Body" (7-Minute NaPoWriMo Poem for April 23)

Tension In the Body




You wore it well, that swell,
that leaden grin you practiced.
Your ballerina grace now gracing
the table of your disgrace. What you
chose to hide now thumping at the gate.
Like a grand balloon emerging too soon,
its clumsy float beyond your reach,
beyond you, stuffing it into your pillow,
putting it back into that empty trunk
of desire, that restless opening.
Why do we survive? This tension
in the body falls apart at the slightest touch.
Some languor at the wayside of the muck,
a fine depression now lining your pewter face.
The mask of your continence, the flare
of your manicured hair, all the ways
you were suppressing it -- all the whys
we'll never know; How, now, will we
ever know?




~ to a suicide
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
written in 7 minutes for National Poetry Writing Month for April 23

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