Poetry Magazine
Hook
One year a general
packs the dead arithmetic in a drawer—
all the subtractions, divisions.
The next year, vines cover the bunkers.
The brain resumes its starbursts of rehearsal.
The heart leaps under the defibrillator.
The bone eases into its socket.
Skin grows back. Scars fade. Eyes clear.
Look at the trees at the burn, six years later.
Look at the sprout on a hay bale
on a truck. Look at the woman who was raped,
had her hands cut off in a creek:
She’s getting married.
The choir sings. The bride smiles.
The groom slips a ring on her hook.
Source: Poetry (April 2012).
Poem Categorization
SUBJECT Living, The Body, Social Commentaries, War & Conflict
POET’S REGION U.S., Western
Poetic Terms Free Verse
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