Ricochet

Shoulders, it is said

by men and women in white coats starched for effect

cannot freeze

nor can we die from heartbreak

until we do

mystery of life

so much further than test tube

scientific figure shifting in study

answers undiscovered

by pill poppers and devotees of

mechanical Gods

I told the doctor

look doc, my shoulder froze over like a lake

when my heart began to ache

it wasn’t the weight of a sofa pushed through a closed-door

inhabiting new space

I never was good at change

still my shoulder froze one summers day

now withered and mismatched I stand lopsided

few can really tell unless they look

closely

maybe that was the real intention

to stop skimming rocks over

smooth surfaces

but peer

deep

beneath

anyway doc …

have you got a script

to lend me a little

relief?

his eyes were the color

of my morning coffee and

regret filled them

I’m sorry young woman

you will have to wait

like all the plants and trees

birds and things

depending upon the sun

until it warms by gradual wind

for as much as you deny it

the frost has you by the throat

claiming your limber soul

it won’t relent if you take a warm bath or rub some salve

you will need to dig deeper

discover what pain holds

nailed by the shoulders

to the ice of regret

maybe by twisting, learning how to tear

yourself from your frame

you can alter your picture

shift strung decline

break out

do over

earn wings

gain altitude

escape

the capture of frozen shoulders

attempting to hold themselves still

against ricochet

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