Wounds (Podcast)

Wounds

Each wound contains
its own beauty--

blunt trauma indigo
walled below pale blue eyes,

the gashed leg
filigreed with blood,

an abdomen scored
by a surgeon's blade,

each layer yielding
with its own sigh,

the biopsy site healed
in a straight red line.

Each wound speaks
its own language,

every incision, slash,
cut-down and scar

in this world where
bruise is not a metaphor.

Here the body's art
conspires with destruction,

and violence surprises
with beauty so intense

the eyes of all beholders
must learn to be blind.

For more on this poem, click here.