Trauma is a Tangled up Thing SEP 2023 All at once and all together Our heartbeats were racing And every hair was standing on end As we froze to catch up with the questions bursting into the kitchen With the slap of a pet door and Skittering claws on the plank floorboards: What happened, is the rabbit OK, Where's the new kitten? was it The new kitten who's fur is flying And is there blood or feathers? It's just us now, or always was– Wait, shhh, wait and see if there will be blood… I am up out of my chair Now crouched down reaching under Other chairs to grasp for clues And try to comfort these companion animals, alternating predator and prey Who we have told and scolded That they are now sisters, Our babies– Oh Lord let them be OK Let me be OK We need to be OK Because we are each of us so fragile And this equilibrium peace Is all we can hold on to Right now The questions are too many and too heavy The answers are too few and too far There is no making sense of
I have practiced, perfected my walk, my talk rainy streets strolled windy mountains mastered sunny forests foraged digested by animal teeth, animal guts claws and paws and jaws raw red meat right off the bone a good day a good way to die until late night lights go out reflected from a sky too bright to hunt by while the telephone curls up mute like the city's lips, just like your lips, your hands, your eyes not defiant not antagonist but gracefully blank as if nothing in this world ever had anything to do with me.