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A Lesson in Life

by Karen Michelle

Your exhalation
is a crease in my skin:
there, where it should be,
by force of nature.

I wake
again and again
like clockwork,
to your open arms;
My empty thoughts
combatted by your
restless idealism
and acceptance
of morning renewal.

Your inhalation
is an oratorio in my head:
climbing, soaring,
a pitch perfect arpeggio.

And I dream of such perfection
to seal these cracks
that expand and contract
with the lunar cycle,
but never repair.

But you teach me daily,
not in so many words,
that I set my sights
on oases and apparitions.

You whisper to me nightly
that there is more
to be found between
daybreak and sundown,
between the expansion
and constriction of a blood vessel
buried deep in my chest cavity;
the macro and the microcosm.

And I would believe you
were it not for the fact
that all my silent observations
have only led me here.
To this realisation:

That I was an open wound long before I knew what it meant to bleed.

03/28/2007

Posted on 03/27/2007
Copyright © 2025 Karen Michelle

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Quentin S Clingerman on 06/28/07 at 01:24 PM

I agree that this has a stream of consciousness feel with a little more orderliness I think. Really ends in great poignancy.

Posted by Aaron Michael on 08/09/07 at 10:08 PM

that was a grand conclusion to a pretty piece. you have a nice choice of wording, it made the work flow just beautifully.

Posted by Kristina Woodhill on 07/06/08 at 04:40 PM

A fine POTD. There are some very interesting inner ideas that flow through this. I like its strong beginning and the end line takes me in a couple of directions.

Posted by Dave Fitzgerald on 07/06/08 at 06:22 PM

Congratulations on you great POTD

Posted by Chris Sorrenti on 06/16/17 at 05:21 AM

Evocative slice of introspection!

Posted by LK Barrett on 06/21/17 at 05:48 PM

Congratulations on POTD. It does seem that "you" in this piece is not very observant, or that the self speaking in the poem is not articulating the past in a way the "you" can parse it. A particularly knotty not, indeed. Thank you for the write. LK

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