roar shack of the human heart — a poem

for Perie

 

sitting with you i was watching

i don’t draw, you said

can’t won’t no, not never

what the nuns had told you then

slapped palms over curlicues

a child’s dancing essay

as if serifs had that right

that stoppage

*

you drew a series of capital o’s

they began to range over the page

a slinky toy of child’s delight

the rings, pulled apart like lessons

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

you penned, outbreath, outbreathing

98 years you’d held that in

that your hand wasn’t good enough

that there wasn’t that butterfly inside

~

“roar shack of the human heart” — copyright 2011 — by Valentine Bonnaire — all rights reserved

*author’s note this is poetry month and so, will try for one a day

xxoo!

Adrienne