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Open Poetry #38
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shirtless
Member
since 2006-04-29
Posts 359


0 posted 2006-06-08 09:10 PM



MOTHER AND CHILD

there’s a stretch
of Saint Catherine Street
that is itself
a smorgasbord
of international dining

and somewhere
between Italy and Japan
is a store
that sells
used books
and keeps
its summer door
ajar
with a spent
artillery shell
the diameter of my calf
and the length of my shin

the shelves
are crammed
while more books
are in stacks
on the floor
and all of them
are for sale
except those
in the stack
the cat
decides
to sleep upon

among
the hundreds of photographs
in one book
is the image
of a woman
standing
barefoot
in the sand and stubble
as a dusty wind
picks
at the frayed edges
of the wrap
that covers
most
of her body

her teeth
seem oversized,
but this
is the optical illusion
of her skeleton face

she is holding
her baby
the way
my daughter
used to hold
her rag doll
when it became
a thing
and the leg
became
a handle

I had no need
of this book
but
as I used
a suspicious
fifty dollar bill
to pay
for a another
defaced text
I had selected,
I knew
that I too
was damaged goods

PLEASE VISIT MY REGULARLY UPDATED WEB SITE http://www.anthonyarmstrong.zoomshare.com

© Copyright 2006 Anthony Armstrong - All Rights Reserved
JamesMichael
Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-16
Posts 33336
Kapolei, Hawaii, USA
1 posted 2006-06-09 12:41 PM


Enjoyed....James
Honeybunch
Member Rara Avis
since 2001-12-29
Posts 7115
South Africa
2 posted 2006-06-09 03:30 AM


Yes, it only takes a moment like that for us to realise that we are all responsible jointly and severally for the state of the world today and, if one has a certain belief, back then as well.  Some say that the world is within and that for most of us is the only one we can change.  Enjoyed the read!
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