Poems: "Worn" and "Patched"

[alee_grrl]

So I have managed to write two shorter poems the past few weeks. "Patched" was actually written first, but I put it second here because it flows thematically from the first.


Worn

I am worn
thin
like the denim
between my thighs
expectation
rubs against
reality
my soul grows hot
from the friction
nerves stretch
fray
rough-edged
fragile
I am worn


Patched

I have held my soul together
with duct tape and bailing wire
gorilla glue and odd bits of string

My heart's been patched
my nerves stretched to breaking
soothed and mended

I'm a practical girl, I use what's to hand
sometimes it's all you got
but hey, all these years and I'm still here.

Comments

[untonuggan]

I really identify with both of these. <3 And feeling very worn myself this evening, so I cannot leave a very coherent comment, but I love the image at the beginning of the first poem (thin denim between thighs). That really pulled me in.

There is an Arab singer called Feyrouz and she has a song about Lebanon that my partner translated for me, and there is a word in Arabic that is often translated as "undress" but really means "take off [like clothes]". In one of Feyrouz's songs about nostalgia and Lebanon &c, she sings (roughly translated from memory, but I think I posted it on my journal somewhere): "undress me, and plant me in the soil of Lebanon." It's a really lovely song that my partner sometimes sings to me, and that's what those lines reminded me of.

[alee_grrl]

Thank you. :)

The song you described sounds lovely. :)