To navigate and pass through...

Poem #3 for the Read Write Poem Poetry Mini-Challenge. Inspired by the poems of Elizabeth Alexander.

Traverse

Snow floods the city, covering
Everything we created
Breathing slows down
Comes out in flimsy clouds

Now out of breath
We are contagious
Victims of time wasted
My hands are like islands

I use them to tempt men
And would-be business associates
I’m almost certain I garnered this talent
From my grandmother

Who never went anywhere without
Putting on her face
If only mine were as sweet and subtle
Mine is ridden with disease

And must be covered up at all times
So as not to scare the children
Everyone has an opinion, I have a theory
There is no remedy

The toxins on the inside are working
Their way out through my pores
I’m on a boat in the water
Tattered and writhing with scars

I cannot tell you what I lost
Not because I don’t remember
But because you wouldn’t understand
And there’s no use in dwelling on the past

If I can’t get it back, then I must let it go
Let the crows carry it off to Hell
And pray the angels carry me home
When I have sufficed on suffering