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10-Hurt

Hurt

About the beauty that surrounded him, particularly the moon Coleridge wrote: “I see them all, so excellently fair; / I see not feel how beautiful they are!” From “Dejection Ode”

  felt like a door slammed in her face,

no reason, she said, hurtful another told me

of what she too… 

eating food spiced to hurt she didn’t feel

burned in my mouth, didn’t remember 

doing to someone what they’d done to her

tries not to feel what hurt too much

to think about, all of us on the edge

of a bad time we’re not quite out of

nerves crippled by what we’d 

been through seek out even spicier food, 

war news happening elsewhere

to inch past mind, rid what’s 

 spreading among us like a bug

Linda Lerner

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