On the days when I have forgotten my own name, spun
nothing resembling anything but chaos, tossed caution,
bedclothes and straw to the wind, un be
-friended both gold and bones,
remind me
that silence cannot be unwrinkled,
and this angry sky knows nothing
of order. Tell me how to uncrumple
my poems and my smile, how many
miles it might take to straighten these
dark roads. Fold me again and again
and again, until two points might
meet in the middle, clashing stars.
Find yourself another universe, may
-hem. This one’s ours.
.
prompted by Quickly in November, day 8.
Whimsygizmo's Blog 
Brilliant title. I love the crumpling, the folding, the meeting in the middle. A star
Wow. “ this angry sky knows nothing” Nicely done, De. >
I love your title … “There’s no way around it; I’ve been messed up, but I’m still here … in the flesh.” Also, is her skin/body still? Perhaps that’s the problem. We need to get that girl moving! I seem to be on repeat around here, telling my family that “bodies at rest stay at rest, and bodies in motion stay in motion.” 🙂
I like this thing you’re doing with making your opening lines extend well beyond what follows. You did that in the preceding poem as well, I believe. It’s just fun to change things up.
I love that “re-mind me” … like, give me a new brain ’cause this one has malfunctioned. 😛
Somehow, this seems a very wise statement: “silence cannot be unwrinkled” … I wonder what it means. 🙂 I guess when clothing is all jacked up, you can iron out the problem areas. But with silence, there’s just nothing you can do but let it run its course. And in it lies a medicine of sorts. Sometimes, silence is a healer … also a protector. I know when I’m at my worst internally, I’m more likely to spew bad energy and words. So silence is much better. Also, great pain requires lengthy silences. The good thing about pain and silence, if you’re patient, is that you come out the other side a new person. Hopefully stronger, wiser, deeper, and “better.” My friend Sara said once that she thought she was a good person until she got married and had children. It has a way of bringing out the worst in you, the evil you didn’t even know was hiding. It’s kind of easy to bop through life, just taking care of yourself … easy to be a nice person, you know. But when you have to deal with the stresses of running a family and home, you break down and just completely “lose it” a lot more easily.
I really like this section:
“Fold me again and again
and again, until two points might
meet in the middle, clashing stars” … It makes me think of those little finger games we made out of paper when we were kids to determine things like whom we loved, whom we’d marry, how many kids we’d have, etc. Also origami. Also, folding = quitting. So many days, I think, “How on earth do I quit this gig?” But there’s just no giving up on mommying. 🙂
I’m also quite fond of the closing couplet. It makes me wonder if May could be a person, or if you might be talking to the month. Also, the hem of a dress, which also jumps my thoughts to Noah’s Ham, Shem, and Japheth.
Ultimately, you’re telling the madness to let go of your family. The laundry/stitching/work might make you crazy, but this is your world and nothing’s going to take that away from you. Plus, you WILL make it to the other side of this … and then, insanely enough, miss these years. 🙂
This was especially inspired: “Fold me again and again
and again, until two points might
meet in the middle, clashing stars.”
Find yourself another universe, may
-hem. This one’s ours.
Maybe those lines should be etched in what we (as humankind) send out into the vast universe?
Maybe though Mayhem already is smart enough to ‘stay away’.
Cheers, Jules.
Wow! Amazing imagery …I am now a fan…Blessings