#OctPoWriMo 2021 — Day 7: “I Remember A Crow’s Nest”

I Remember a Crow’s Nest

some rain fell
while we were in
storyland

mumbled
dream speak holds
influence, but in
the dusk of morning
a splitting headache
reminds of what
the body always remembers

this is cyclic pain visiting
again

illness is a leash
& you’ll spend years
trying to see who’s holding
the lead

some pray to be fifteen again,
others shudder — that body
didn’t know enough to block
things out, that mind was
molded by rough hands
& there are still marks
on it — you’re still
scrubbing the same places,
ignoring certain spaces,
wondering 
where the rest went

hurry before the puddles
disappear, that girl
might be in them,
that face may have crossed
your silken barrier,
that smile still exists
over there

no more clouds, only
smoke rings, only
the scent of saturation
& dead petals of regret
that couldn’t hold on
long enough to take
a life-saving sip

Photo Courtesy of nunhes