Thursday, April 03, 2008

Against all our living

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Operculum

It’s always the small things that trip us up,
an undipped heel, a ten-cent relay, the
bird on the runway. Against all our living,
wrought ironies ply their black twists in
what only luck and dreams can embrace.

There was a girl once, tall and young,
and she brought me a piece of myself
I knew existed, but had never encountered.

It was a small thing, like an adornment
one adds for grace or accent, but it was,
nevertheless, essential. That part of me
is who I am in her presence, because she
could see between the spaces in my atömli,
the vast stretches spread through my local
cluster that bleed off the body into bands
of broad emptiness and necessary light.

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I watched a boy being fed in a restaurant.
He was about twelve and sat crooked
in his wheelchair. Spoon after slow spoon,
his hunger was dispatched by the paternal
hand that brought him into this place.
Even the most withered of us need nutrient.

It’s the small things that come into play.
One unnoticeable detail after another
missed or disregarded, stepped over
as an ant trudges across the spider’s
trapdoor, never seeing the thin veiled
threshold that leads the last way home.

Joseph Gallo
March 24, 2008


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6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous parried...

You've got a mighty soul, Joseph Gallo.
I dare say that I've always known you.

April 11, 2008 7:58 AM  
Blogger Joseph Gallo parried...

Well, Bryan, I don't know about mighty, but it seems to fit in my skin, which has shown some subtle signs of age of late. ;-)

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed the poem.

April 11, 2008 10:01 AM  
Blogger Jonice parried...

Small is nice!
I love small :)

Small is beautiful, they say.

I loved this poem, Joseph.

April 12, 2008 5:51 PM  
Blogger Joseph Gallo parried...

Things tend to come in the size they're most adapted to. From time to treasure; from territory to trouble, I suppose.

I think I like all the sizes, Jonice.

Thanks for your kind comment and always nice to see you. :-)

April 12, 2008 9:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous parried...

Oh, this is good, Joseph. Really, really good. I love it.

April 26, 2008 9:41 AM  
Blogger Joseph Gallo parried...

Thank you for saying so, Ms. Manx.
You are most welcome here. :-)

April 26, 2008 6:57 PM  

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