Black Lilies
Flensing words, slicing deeper: all, nothing,
red to redder. Their skin, paling to nothing.
I speak today but you hear yesterday.
Black lilies in the chill of nothing.
Drifted apart, the two halves reconcile.
Yellowed, whitened. Older. Both stitched in nothing.
How many words have we lost to morning? Shredded
syllables sparring for sound. The nothing of nothing.
A coated voice, turquoise and calm, spreading across the room.
Buttered light. Pleasantries, unfolding. You, being nothing.
The language of night sleeps unformed in my bed.
I remember your hand on my cheek; flesh forgets nothing.
* * *
A near-ghazal, “Black Lilies” first appeared in ISACOUSTIC* in January 2018.
O at the Edges 
This is so hauntingly beautiful and how it echos and reverberates with the repetition of “nothing”, it sends chills throughout my body. Wow.
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Thanks very much, Lucy. “Nothing” is a huge concept. 🙂
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Yes, nothing is no thing, but that which everything needs in order to be defined as something. 🙃
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I’m so easily confused!
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I’ve never come across the word flensing before, so I learned a new word today.
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I’m not sure where I first heard it (Moby Dick, perhaps?), but it seemed appropriate to the piece. At any rate, I enjoy finding words new to me, and guess that you do, too. It’s such a pleasure.
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Gorgeous poem, Bob!
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Thanks very much, Leigh!
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Really beautifully written and provocative. Lovely ❤️Joni
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Thanks very much, Joni. Much appreciated.
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It is my pleasure truly. Have an amazing weekend. ❤️🤗🦋
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So beautiful.. truly flesh (does) forget nothing : Truth!
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Thank you. That has been my experience!
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❤ thank for inspiring me to write a poem about this, my body trauma has been coming up in therapy a lot lately this line of yours was so on the money.
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I’m so pleased that the line resonated with you. That’s all I could ask for!
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Lovely 🤗
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this is fantastic, really great piece!
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Thanks very much, Jay.
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