I am doing National Poetry Writing Month and April Poem-A-Day challenges again this year. I’m going to catch up here over the next few days. I’m behind because my ‘puter got a virus and I have had to rebuild it. I think it is all good, now.

Keep in mind that all poems posted in my blog tend to be drafts, especially during a month like April or November.

Let’s start with “cage”.

a cage

this heaving
this skin and bones
trapped as if
a tornado in my gut
gelatinous organs
an ocean,
churning in a storm
tossing me and burying me
a freezing grave
poisonous salt water
burning through my lungs
a time
of nonexistence
wishing death
stripped
of all I am, trapped
a second stretched to week
too weak
my head, my limbs
this virus
a cedar
chopped down
drying out
sap too thick to flow
bark lets go of trunk
and falls
to pests and pestilence
to be eaten
consumed by microbes
a window
to death
a curser
a bird after hitting the pane
falling, my wings akimbo
broken bones shiver
but hold their frame
a sword
with a weak spot
keep me sheathed
use me and i will shatter
so I wait
in this cage
of skin and bone
organs gelatinous
until a call
a flute
to rise again
and I am reborn
on the shore
able to fly.

Ariel