Thaw

All the lovely words I ache to use

—grip and finny, plangent,

Snout

Elastic

Importune

Enarctic, absolute

Byzant—

Flee

Embargoed, subject to my

Inarticulation

Used to be

Words bottlenecked inside

—As blade leapt and feet patterned

Faster than the conscious mind can ken—

Spilled forth late at night when

Dried from sweat and

Drenched with images

I’d channel on the page

The residue of dreams

Inspirations that upon the strip

Fall short

Trying to capture them with

Syllambolic grace

Synoptic brevity

Since I’ve gone lame, that

Well’s run dry

Phrases cramp and tangle in my brain

Fail beneath my weight

My lagging foot has

Dragged my measure down,

Undermined my

Métier

Gimped my game

My hand and foot are yoked in their dysfunction

Mute, I’ve slaved at patient repetition

Labored to rebuild the

Tendoned scaffold of my lunge

Drill minute adjustments to the pitch and weight and

Slant of step and shift

Strive to rediscovery thoughtless ease

But last night, gingerly untangling my brace

Applying ice, assessing the resentment of my knee

My eyes were captured by the

Ferritopic cut and slash

The sabre bums employ

Their ranting stutter stamp and

Shout

Their embered arguments

I scrabbled in my bag for pad and pen

Recovery is marked by such small steps as these