“Madness” © Jordana Mayim

 

Scar Tissue

Did you know
that from day one

like the scars
on the zippered face

of a journeyman
prizefighter,

every blow and pock
you receive is locked

in a memory chip
scarred in the back

of your welterweight brain
& did you know

that in the main
each jab or hook

that rocks your pointy jaw
will shock that jigsaw tissue,

will bring down
a bloody issue

to your swollen eyes,
will cloud your sight,

& did you know
that in a later round

you will be beaten down;
the referee will count

you out as he trundles in
to stop the fight.

 

Bob McAfee is a retired software consultant who lives with his wife near Boston. His style is eclectic, but his goal is producing poems with both fierceness and a reluctant sense of optimism. He has written five books of poetry.

Jordana Chana Mayim is a writer, illustrator, and backpacker, among many other things. She’s published two books, with two more on the way. In them, she shares all the light that travel and overcoming depression taught her how to see. At the tender age of six, she received her first clinical diagnosis of “abnormal” from a child psychologist. Since then, she’s learned how to reclaim her voice and define herself. Difference isn’t a disease. It’s the origin of existence.