Poets write history’s pain,
but not to heal wounds
too quickly or too soon.
Those in a hurry to abandon facts
only prolong the sting of the hurt.
Poets use no bandages, no casts, no slings,
no gels, unguents, or ointments,
they pull scabs, scratch irritations,
they use salt, not salve,
no pill for nerve calming comfort.
They refuse to forget the cause of the wound
the stab,
the gas,
the burn,
the blow
all sins against skins and souls,
so we do not reproduce the body of pain..
History enters the mind through prose,
but enters the heart through poetry.
Neglected
history has a long shelf-life and no half-life.
Poetry >>>>
verbal visceral memory.