Her anxiety…
…like the three-skin layer scratch on my thumb knuckle
puffed pink edges, little sighs of pain & the scab catching
on polyester blends, the teal wool sweater, the yellow&white
striped dish towel – I can’t take it away
the line of wound the regimen of stinging how it feels itself
much more than it will ever show – the scratch I can see on me
dips into the canyon of fear in her
can I lift her out?
show her the succession of healing tasks a body knows
cry with her witness the changes marvel
at how courage mends the scratch on my thumb
how shadows come first & then the
faint art of trauma a body’s museum
the story of recovery in scars
New Books Review of ‘Thimbles’ by the Independent Book Review & Josie Di Sciascio-Andrews!
Thank you to the Independent Book Review and The Ontario Poetry Society for making these reviews happen! Many thanks to Josie D Sciascio-Andrews and Susan E. Morris for reading ‘Thimbles’ and taking the time and energy to respond in a review!
To read their *glowing* (if I may?!) reviews, please CLICK HERE!
VANESSA SHIELDS, writer 