Shirley Harshenin
A Not Admitting of the Wound
Cento I. There are no curses only mirrors upon a shifting plate, like a revolving door-- the eye of a little god, four-cornered, faces and darkness separate us over and over. In every place we look we see our stare, even that much-consulted mirror on the wall couldn’t tell all, though it couldn’t help telling the truth. A miniature window, that anyone who stands in front of it feels the bruising darkness. II. Close to the door in my dream, the small signs, portraits on everything imaginable, then hold them up like mirrors. They are illusions, reflected dreams, but move in a common rhythm that fades like tide drying on a beach. I am terrified of this dark thing that sleeps in me-- a not admitting of the wound until it grew so wide, I think it is part of my heart. But it flickers, perceives without a mirror in the hands. Into that rushing beast of the night, the curl of my lips, bright as the blood red edge of the moon, stared back at me a half-familiar face. There are so many roots to the tree of anger, so murderous in its strangle of branches that sometimes the branches shatter before they bear-- these are the isolate, slow faults that kill. III. The view of vast water stretching before me, on a shore that is wide for the tide is out, and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees, and the weedy rocks are bare to the rain, my right hand was holding my left hand which was holding the tree which was filled with stars and the soft rain-- the soul’s hunger is small, but precise. Fringe of a mirror with wisdom on it, held up to the souls of gods and mortals, that all my Life had entered it, the rain spoke to me slowly, saying, A wound is the place where light enters you, and when the blessed dawn again-- beautiful and faithful and ancient, like a rainbow bearing up such speechless bounty, joy will reveal itself. METHOD: “A NOT ADMITTING OF THE WOUND” is a cento poem consisting of lines taken verbatim from 26 poems written by 19 female poets. SOURCES: Alphabetical by Poet “Phenomenal Woman,” “On the Pulse of Morning,” “Caged Bird,” by Maya Angelou; “Last Days,” by Anne Bronte; “Poem in Praise of Menstruation,” by Lucille Clifton; “A Not Admitting of the Wound (1188),” “Fame is a Fickly Food (1702),” by Emily Dickinson; “Trio in a Mirror,” by Dorothy Donnelly; “I Have Been a Stranger in a Strange Land,” “Demeter’s Prayer to Hades,” by Rita Dove; “Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear,” by Alice B. Fogel; “Stellar Jay,” “Hatchling,” “Upstairs in the Study,” by Heidi Garnett; “Father’s Mirror,” by Miriam Goodman; “Mirrors,” by Elizabeth Jennings; Selections from “The Sun and Her Flowers,” Rupi Kaur; “Who Said It Was Simple,” by Audre Lorde; “Dream,” by Eileen Myles; “Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me,” by Mary Oliver; “To Be of Use,” by Marge Piercy; “Elm,” “Mirror,” by Sylvia Plath; “The Starry Night,” by Anne Sexton; “Departure,” by Edna St. Vincent Millay; “The Tree of Life Has Fallen,” by Alice Walker. |
SOURCES
Part / Line # POET POEMS I 1 Dove, Rita Demeter’s Prayer to Hades 2 Dove, Rita Demeter’s Prayer to Hades Dickinson, Emily Fame is a Fickly Food (1702) 3 Kaur, Rupi The Sun and Her Flowers 4-5 Plath, Sylvia Mirror 6 Jennings, Elizabeth Mirrors 7-8 Donnelly, Dorothy Trio In a Mirror 9-10 Goodman, Mirian Father’s Mirror 11 Angelou, Maya On the Pulse of Morning II 12 Myles, Eileen Dream 13-14 Fogel, Alice B. Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear 15 Garnett, Heidi Stellar Jay 16 Piercy, Marge To Be of Use 17 Goodman, Miriam Father’s Mirror 18 Plath, Sylvia Elm 19 Dickinson, Emily A Not Admitting of the Wound (1188) 20 Dickinson, Emily A Not Admitting of the Wound (1188) 20 Plath, Sylvia Mirror 21 Plath, Sylvia Mirror 21 Jennings, Elizabeth Mirrors 22 Sexton, Anne The Starry Night 23 Angelou, Maya Phenomenal Woman 23 Clifton, Lucille Poem in Praise of Menstruation 24 Clifton, Lucille Poem in Praise of Menstruation 24 Jennings, Elizabeth Mirrors 25 Lorde, Audre Who Said It Was Simple 26 Plath, Sylvia Elm 27-28 Lorde, Audre Who Said It Was Simple 29 Plath, Sylvia Elm III 30 Walker, Alice The Tree of Life Has Fallen 31 St. Vincent Millay, Edna Departure 32 Angelou, Maya Caged Bird 33 St. Vincent Millay, Edna Departure 34-36 Oliver, Mary Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me 37 Garnett, Heidi Hatchling 38 Myles, Eileen Dream 39 Dove, Rita Demeter’s Prayer to Hades 40 Dickinson, Emily A Not Admitting of the Wound (1188) 41-42 Oliver, Mary Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me 43 Garnett, Heidi Upstairs in the Study 44 Bronte, Anne Last Days 45 Clifton, Lucille Poem in Praise of Menstruation Kaur, Rupi The Sun and Her Flowers 46 Dove, Rita I Have Been a Stranger in a Strange Land 47 Kaur, Rupi The Sun and Her Flowers Shirley Harshenin writes from her home in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia. She believes in angels, caffeine, and the human spirit’s extraordinary resilience. Her work has been published in Room Magazine; Contrary Magazine; Unlost Journal; Crab Fat Magazine; Haiku Journal; The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts; Entropy: Woven; Nailed; Crack the Spine; The Nasiona, and others. |