[from Ellen Doré Watson’s This Sharpening, 2006]
Ever Since
Ever since the alarm went off, inconvenient feelings stirring,
outsized, unruly, trying to elbow their way in or out, restless
over the map of the day, trying the hang-dog, downcast eyes
routing, storming through your body, just like Della said
last week, sister in malady, pointing to her chest: there’s
too much in here, and for as long as you keep your hands, legs,
mouth, and feet busy, ticker-tape brain ticking, they remain
a lozenge, a sourness pushing out an odor only you can smell,
refusing to dissolve — but just try to slip into the tub or behind
the wheel and you’ll need more than the radio to beat back
the take-over, imminent domain, white line through wet lashes,
overblown heart blown open, floodgates and warning lights
and day-glo bumper stickers: emotion the size of a moose
planted in our path — ridiculous, undeniable, locally fatal.
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