poetry


cuts

they say the first cut is the deepest
but is it really?
my mom used to tell me,
your words can cut  to the bone.
they are sharp
like a knife
and they hurt.
do they bleed, I wonder.
a cut can be 
sharp
it can be a sliver,
a gouge,
an open wound.
with words or with a knife.

there are
paper cuts and
cuts that cut you to the bone.
cuts can stab
and they can puncture.

cut and slice
and snick.
when I was little I used to
stick the edge of a safety pin
into my skin
just to see how far it would go
until I could latch it without it bleeding.

cuts bleed. 
they bleed blood
they bleed emotion
they can be bloodless.

a cut is penetration
into the skin
or the soul

piquerism is cutting over 
and over and over again.
do cuts release emotion
or make emotion?

so you can cut with scapels,
and knives, and safety pins,
and paperclips and tongues.

so is the first cut really 
the deepest?
or is it the second, the third,
the fourth or perhaps
the hundreth?

cut
release
cut 
release
they say the first cut
is the deepest.

4.29.2012