Scalpel Dawn
…..
I know the Bodhi and the Lotus.
The chrysalis and the flower’s bud —
They see me as I see them,
On the eve before the change.
…..
I hear the words that once lingered
On feathered winds that flew
From my heart to those deep places
Where I knew me—and you knew you.
…..
No scalpel could hunger so deeply,
Nor any surgeon’s eyes be so clear
As to find the part of me that bleeds
In the way the empty husk once knew.
….
I will wake with a new body
And glow in that quiet, heavy way I do.
And I will be a tree for you to ponder under
Or be your flower that thrives in dirty water.
….
Mark my words with small pink flags
That waving against the slab-blue sky
And know this earth is only clay
And my body yearns to learn its ways.
……
This poem is from the chapbook Ever the Sky by Ada Pendill (Finishing Line Press), and can be found at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/ever-the-sky-by-ada-pendill/
Ada Pendill is a poet based in the Philadelphia area. With a background in visual arts, she brings a painter’s sense of space and image to her writing, drawing inspiration from the natural world, visual language, and the subtle surrealism of the everyday. When not writing poetry or computer code, she spends as much time as possible with the birds and trees.
The Paddock Review 