No Visible Injury
Nov 27 2009


No visible injury.
A cast, on the other hand
would explain everything;
the story, that much more embellished
with each new telling.

Black felt pen
on smooth white plaster —
“Miss you, get well soon”
she wrote,
“i”s dotted with hearts
happy-face “o”s.

But when you had your bell rung,
the warm gelatin of cortex
shaken
stirred
thumped,
you looked the same;
despite the hard remembering
the stumbling aimlessly
the losing track of time.

And when she broke your heart
the despair
sucked your marrow dry,
cut you to the bone.
But you are a hard man, a stoic,
and no one ever noticed.
You remember being told
that time heals all,
and like a prisoner marking his wall
you took it day-to-day.

This diabolical clock,
as if every second
a drop of water bore down into your skull
in the same infernal spot —
the incessant tap-tap-tap
the eternity of seconds,
about to drive you mad.