Posts from the ‘WP Discover Challenge Responses’ Category

freckles and bone

my freckles whisper, connect the dots
blonde hair, hazel eyes, dull skin
i’m a printout, a walking transcript
of DNA, RNA, and other alphabetical
codes and numbers and alleles pinning up mysteries
of the universe within my bone marrow
and brain, tiny spiraling ladders carry the blueprint
into the unknown, those tiny little grains –
blood cells, ebbing and flowing with the tide
connecting the uniqueness of
our fingerprints and irises into one common thread,
that carries on life, even after our last breath
has fed our last heart beat from our chests,
before we are settled into
dust and bones and buried like the rest

When my pawpaw passed, I found
myself staring in the mirror – trying to pick out
features from myself I could connect and relate
to his existence that has departed from this world for
the stars. Sometimes your memories aren’t just kept
alive through your own thoughts – as you peer at
a friend, enemy, or family member, certain features –
their smile, the way their hair falls around their face,
their posture as they walk, the slenderness of their fingers,
the graceful sharpness of their chin – those characteristics
might remind you of something, someone, somewhere.
So memories that have long been forgotten might be
retraced or resurface in your thoughts right when you
least expect them and in the most peculiar ways.
Here’s a brief poem I wrote, in which I contemplate
just how much of an influence our DNA has on creating
physical qualities that trigger our emotions and memories
of the past.

____
written by Tiny Fawns for #DiscoverWP