The Wound

PoetrySS- Peter and Paul 2017
Written By Geoffrey Smagacz

The wound, I wish I didn’t have the wound,
manifesting like a burl on a tree.
As I have grown, it seems to have ballooned,
To me as broad as the leafed canopy.
My friend, it’s not an easy thing to hide,
but I know you, and how polite you are,
that even if I opened my inside
you’d pronounce me normal, but from afar.
But I’m not. And one day the weight of snow,
a soaking rain, or a strong gale-force blast,
or one feather more in a nest, or moon glow
will, at the hurt, defeat the tree at last.
And yet these misshapen outgrowths are prized
by craftsmen, sanded, shined and emphasized.

Geoffrey Smagacz

Geoffrey Smagacz writes from Mexico (mostly) and South Carolina. His poetry has been published in various literary magazines and e-zines, including 14 by 14, Dappled Things and The Society of Classical Poets. He's a part-time MFA student at the University of St. Thomas. A collection of his fiction, published under the title of A Waste of Shame and Other Sad Tales of the Appalachian Foothills (Wiseblood Books, 2013), won the 2014 Independent Publisher gold medal for Best Mid-Atlantic Regional Fiction. His latest murder mystery, Reportedly Murdered (Wipf and Stock, 2022), is now available through online venues. www.geoffreywalters.com, @Ge0ffreyW on Twitter.

Previous

Transflagration
Next

Sirocco