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 
“the steady flaking away at what colors me intact” – love this line! Congrats, Bob!
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I feel more and more like that flaking rust, but still I persist. 🙂
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A sobering poem.
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I believe I wrote this a few months after suffering a heart attack. So I was feeling a little rusty… 🙂
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🙂
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Many levels of identification here … though there is some beauty in some iron rust … I am gripped by “corruption” and “flaking away” thinking of likelihood of “steady fading away” of what we’ve deemed solid, indestructible … our Supreme Court as “Failure’s bloom” …
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There are many poems in what has happened with/to our Supreme Court!
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