Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Tuesday Poem: Volume of Grief


Volume of Grief

How many cubic units must grief occupy?

And how to measure?

I'd suffer an umbral shadow

in a lunar eclipse, my aura rimmed

with a blistering bruise.

In cotton bales, I'd lumber

under kilo after kilo, mouth dry

as a foolscap-quad of paper sheets.

In hat sizes twenty gallon.

On the Glasgow Coma Scale:

complete gibberish.


If grief is measurable,

then it should be disposable,

like a broken bed, or a newspaper.

Burnable like a cord of wood,

expendable like wattage. Frittered away

like minutes and hours.

Walked away from, like the bad job.

Downed by the pint.

Shed like a pound.

Subtracted from, divided by.

Deleted.


© T. Clear

6 comments:

RACHEL MAXI said...

Beautiful poem, T. And I love your picture under the rock. Hang in there.

Angella Lister said...

I wish, I wish.

Lovely, poignant poem.

Sending love.

mybabyjohn said...

It is disposable but we have to be ready to wrap it in yesterdays newspaper and toss it out. When the time is right for you it will be left behind.
Great poem, haunting images.

lillyanne said...

This is a lovely and achingly sad poem. Hang on T.

Claire Beynon said...

Dear T - arms around you in this tumultuous place, wanting so to lift and soothe. . . listening to - and hearing - you. Take care. L, C xo

Foxessa said...

This is such hard, harsh place.

Love, C.