Amputation

Spinning around like a dog sitting down,

circling, waiting for just the right moment to take me

so I can drop and fold into myself.

Talking like the trained ape that I am,

jaws moving up and down, making sounds that are assigned meaning,

so I can seem to be like 'them'.

Feeling things in the center of my chest,

not physical things at first, but there is a tightening

and I miss her like a limb lopped off.

Walking, like a flesh robot, long forgotten,

left to wander, trying to remember to keep going,

(it's important)

so we can have a reason to come home.

Crying for her, the limb lost, the love now an ache, ghost nerves,

the pain that isn't felt on the flesh, but within every organ.

This, so that we can remember the whole of them.

Tracing names in wet cement, we defied the curse of failure,

circling, waiting for just the right moment to take us,

so we can drop and fold into ourselves.