Aftermath
rust. Being one phase of corruption, a matter of
resolve. When I surrender, the implication is of giving
over, moving above, allowance. Delivering despite
the steady flaking away at what colors me intact.
The quiet evening had lulled me to this inevitability:
when oxides subsume the original metal, the expansion
may result in catastrophe. Yesterday’s arc, tomorrow’s
trial. Failure’s bloom.
* * *
“Aftermath” first appeared in the print publication Sheepshead Review. Thank you to Audrey Schultz and staff for taking this poem.
O at the Edges 
Hey, you don’t have to be stainless to be steel, Robert! 🙂
There’s something about this – can’t pinpoint exactly what – that I like about this; enough to have made me read it a couple of times over.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’ve grown accustomed to my personal rust…
LikeLiked by 1 person
😊 take care!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is very clever. We fail, move aside, we give ourselves over to what comes next. Shiny and new, we fade; corrosion sets in and consumes our original form. It doesn’t happen all at once; it is a trial. But in our corrosion — our corruption, our catastrophic ending — we transform yet again. Painted metal will chip and flake; exposed metal rusts and blooms. Our bloom is not our failure, but our continued transformation.
LikeLiked by 2 people
And there is great beauty to be found in the transformation!
LikeLike
You colour rust, superbly Robert, the inevitable process of corroding, is but the surface growing older and blooming, and that is life itself…..
LikeLiked by 1 person
My layers of rust appear to be growing, and that’s okay.
LikeLike
Yes, and my anti-rust paint isn’t working any more !!
LikeLike
I’m no longer applying it!
LikeLike
Beyond repair, but Neil Young told me ‘Rust Never Sleeps “
LikeLiked by 1 person
Better to burn out than fade away…
LikeLike
Haha, so you know it well 🎶🤗
LikeLiked by 1 person
Neil is an old favorite!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This, I’d say is absolutely brilliant. I read it over and over again 🙂 and I realize that we humans have so much to learn from life and loss. More ink to your pen Bob.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks so much, A-Jay. Loss and dissolution are part of life. We can’t avoid them.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Inevitable they’re. Besides, knowing those certainty and admitting the uncertainty is the best art of living.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The uncertainties are both unnerving and exhilarating!
LikeLiked by 1 person