Graft

[dyne7]

Graft

Not tenderness, but the relentless need to savor
obsession. I have practiced for many years at this.
Even in dreams I do this: slipping in like a

contagion, then the voluptuous panic of being
treated as such. Somehow it happens slowly.
Slower than the fall of a woman’s dress, slower

than the cruel hum of wasps driven mad by
rain. Slower even, than the change of seasons.
Eighty-eight times this has happened. I have a

need to be exact. I am driven by this. I do not want
to be. This is what I know: that some creatures
replace limbs they lose by simply willing it to

happen, their bodies wild for more. The obsession with
being alive. I too have wanted this, wanted the
birth mark on my back to recede from spine,

recede from mind. Ghost DNA betrays
ghost blood. But often lonely, I touch its
terminus and grow fond of what I shouldn’t,

reminded of Peter who denied what he knew to
be true, singular and unworthy. I, whose
lips kissed the soft part of my arm repeatedly for

many years before the slipping, preparing for
the real thing. I, footnote of the word
grieve. Practicing human touch.

Learning to be exact.

[Delta40]

Dyne, I'm on my way out and the title Graft to your poem and the constant reference to 'this' throughout eludes me by a fraction - S7 & 8 seem so intense that I will have to return and re-read your latest offering to Lit-Net.

[Jack of Hearts]

Cream of the crop stuff.






J

[Thomas Novosel]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this...it was well written and the final line "Learning to be exact." made me reread the poem and sit ontop of each line, and find an interpretation or inner meaning that felt submerged in the lines... for some reason this poem spits into my mind Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and describes the trouble that a person has when they are struggling with it. That they don't want to fix, but need to fix imperfections
("I too have wanted this, wanted the
birth mark on my back to recede from spine,"
compared with
"that some creatures
replace limbs they lose by simply willing it to

happen, their bodies wild for more.")
And this theme of striving, needing, and HAVING to, or else suffer mental destruction, have fullness and wholeness is an interesting mentality that simply eminates from your poem.

[Bar22do]

There is a strong tension in this poem and - what an inner struggle! gosh. A great poem dyne7, I have to sip it, line by line. Wow.