Poets do not let history’s wounds heal
too quickly or too soon.
Those cavalier with historical facts
only reinjure the wound. .
Poets use no bandages, no casts or 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 original wound
the stab,
the gas,
the burn,
the blow
all sins against skins and souls.
Injustice has a long shelf-life and no half-life.
Poetry,
verbal visceral memory.