Stitch me up with spirit
or my blood will burn snow,
melting molten rivers through your tongue’s silver flow,
Joe Cool atop your doghouse
ripping seams from my soul,
harrowing thin threads
transparent in the glow.
Eating tacos on the promenade
right before the storm,
your aviator spectacles reflect
my broken nose
(on borrow from your fisticles
and shriveled little testicles),
fractured in a second
beneath your mighty blow.
Salsa with cilantro marches
magic through the marrow
of the thin rare stillness
of the calm before your storm–
that second when I understand
there is no either or.
Stitch me up with spirit
while your blood burns slow,
melting molten rivers
that grub tunnels through my soul.
I saw my life flash frozen
and guessed that you should go,
stitch me up with sweet thin threads
transparent in the glow.
Brenda Warren 2013
Earlier this week, the first stanza of this piece came quickly, and then it stopped. I pulled it out again this morning, using the wordle words to finish it. My goal was a piece that could be “rapped.” It’s day 27!
undercaws 
This builds and builds and swells with your talent. Wonderful.
LikeLike
You can feel the rhythm of resolve building in this piece. Wonderful Brenda.
LikeLike
This really sings. Full of rhythm and imagery. Loved the stitching and the shrivelled testicles!
LikeLike
Chilling and well crafted. Excellent response to the prompt.
LikeLike
I found your blog through napowrimo.net. This is incredible! Not just this, either. I love your poetry.
LikeLike
Thank you, I appreciate the visit.
LikeLike
Brenda, you did a splendid write with the words. You even managed “grub”. This piece has a great flow.
Pamela
btw – I am now just going around to read. I never turned my laptop on yesterday. I was rebelling and reading a book, that was long overdue to be read. Do you like the author Paulo Coelho? If, so, you should read “The Fifth Mountain”. It is wonderful.
LikeLike
I do, and I will. Thanks Pamela. I’m glad you rebelled. Reading fills us up so we can write more later. It was good writing with you this month. This is year four for me!
LikeLike
does carry that kind of rhythm
much love…
LikeLike
Thanks… I appreciate the support, Gillena.
LikeLike
Really nice magic here and throughout. I like the witchiness, the stitching through the violence.
LikeLike
Magic… hooray! Thanks for that thought. Alice Hoffman is my favorite fiction writer due to the way she weaves magic throughout her work, so this feels like high praise. I appreciate it.
LikeLike
What a great beat to this rejection of dominance and cruelty poem. He certainly took one step too far to get such a gutsy heroic reaction.
LikeLike
Thanks OE. I love that you used the adjective heroic, and I’m in complete agreement with you!
LikeLike
What a wonderful flow. This opening line is a zinger:
“Stitch me up with spirit
or my blood will burn snow”
Gorgeous.
LikeLike
Thanks, De.
LikeLike
Good thing she realized he should go. “Stitch me up with spirit” – such a great line.
LikeLike
Thank you… That first line is an echo from a piece I wrote two or three years ago…it comes up in one form or another with a fair amount of frequency.
LikeLike
Powerful, emotional words to me. Very raw and amazing.
LikeLike
Thank you, Maggie. Nice to have you whilrling with us. 🙂
LikeLike
This hits home, but in a good way, Brenda. Really like what you did with the words, and loved the ‘fisticles’ (maybe that should go in a future wordlist?). Just finished reading a book “The Blessing of Animals” and this echoes that story about a woman who doesn’t know that she no longer loves her husband until he leaves her in a very rude crude manner. Your final lines are the echo I am hearing,
Elizabeth
LikeLike
Thanks for your support, Elizabeth, and for mentioning that book. I’ve added to my list of possible summer reads. Fisticles as a wordle word? Perhaps for fun we should come up with a list of nonsense wordle words. The wheels are spinning….
LikeLike
I’m still amazed at what poets can do with just a few words…
LikeLike
Thank you, Marian.
LikeLike
You wove the words so well…they almost disappeared for me.
LikeLike
Thank you Sabra. It took me awhile to get through most of it, so it’s nice to now it flows for you.
LikeLike
Stunning imagery..the last verse made me think of tender care..like a seamstress or healer..it is often the case that men who lack testicles make up for it by throwing around their fisticles (made me 🙂 long may we glow..
LikeLike
Thanks Jae. I love that you smiled at that bit. It was fun wordplay.
LikeLike
This poem about “rapping” of a vastly different sort – absolutely beats (ACH the second a completely unintentional and unfortunate pun) … What you have done here is to take the victim and “stitch” her ” up with spirit”. The poem not only sings it shouts in exultation and freedom – her spirit stitched BRAVO!
LikeLike
Ha! I love the pun, Pearl. Thank you for your support, so glad you like this piece.
LikeLike
The words make a nice echo/rap, Brenda.
LikeLike
Thanks, Irene.
LikeLike
Yesterday’s glow was just as bright… don’t put it off any longer!
LikeLike
You’re right, Stan. No one should live with this. Lucky for me it’s not my life.
LikeLike
A wrap of a rap. Clever Brenda. Your brain is buzzing while mine is quietly atrophying!
LikeLike
Pshaw! Thanks for your support and humor, Viv. Atrophying brains don’t write buzzing lines… just saying.
LikeLike
You really made the wordle words sing, Brenda! I’ll get a drum and we can rap them out! 🙂
LikeLike
Let’s do it! haha…. I have two djembes. One has a deep rich sound, and the other is higher in pitch. Thanks for your enthusiasm, Marianne. I’m so pleased that May is around the corner.
LikeLike