Kintsugi, by Sheila Wellehan

Kenzan-style Dish with Bamboo Leaves, in the style of Ogata Kenzan (Japan). Edo period (1615–1868).

​Kintsugi
 
Living in dread takes a toll.
Fear turns every blue sky charcoal.
Death never gives up its patrol,
all we have is a fragile parole.
 
Fear turns every blue sky charcoal,
we use sacred scrolls as blindfolds.
All we have is a fragile parole –
hairline cracks shatter, explode.
 
We use sacred scrolls as blindfolds.
We mend broken pottery with gold
when hairline cracks shatter, explode.
We pray these precious wounds hold.
 
We mend broken pottery with gold –
death never gives up its patrol.
We pray these precious wounds hold.
Living in dread takes a toll.
 
Sheila Wellehan

Sheila Wellehan's poetry is recently featured or forthcoming in Forklift, Ohio; Menacing Hedge; San Pedro River Review; Tinderbox Poetry Journal; Whale Road Review, and elsewhere. She lives in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. Visit her online at www.sheilawellehan.com.