About Face

About Face
The man is angry; his face looks like it just
spat a slur,
the face looks that way a lot, sneer-shaped,
chin a smear—seriously, his chin is blurred in its firm set,
like the tip of something spray-painted
on a concrete
wall.
How do you smooth
such a face? With cash?
With fear?
How do you whisper in a way that it will hear:
you were a baby once,
you will die some day,
you are causing
terrible suffering.
Can you only threaten, tell the face it too
will suffer?
I don’t know, I don’t know.
Can you remind the face of beauty?
That it belonged to a baby once, a child (this feels somehow
important);
that geese fly in incredible Vs;
that an unwounded sky pearls wonder.
**************************
Another draft poem for April. The pic doesn’t really go with the poem, but I don’t have a lot of drawings of angry faces, or couldn’t find one on the fly. I’m not sure that this picture depicts the figure in the poem, but it felt okay to use. All rights reserved. Take care.
Explore posts in the same categories: UncategorizedTags: #napowrimo, April Poetry Month, Karin Gustafson poetry, manicddaily
You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.
April 8, 2022 at 12:48 pm
This poem seems particularly timely and poignant.
April 8, 2022 at 2:24 pm
Thanks so much, Stacey.
April 11, 2022 at 1:13 pm
i think you ask important questions ~
April 11, 2022 at 2:36 pm
Difficult times. Hope you are well. k.