The Heartache of a Scholar

Today,

My professor started class with

"The infamous El Paso allergies

seem to have gotten the best of me,"

but i knew better.

 

The milk of her eyes

mixed with nestle strawberry,

the blue of her pupil

puffed gas to the surrounding skin

like a child's hand

on a hot iron,

puffy,

and i've

had my heart broken

more than a hundred times before

and it's like saying

"real recognize real"

so pain could recognize pain

and when she says

"frantz fanon was a

very rightous man"

her voice cracks on "man"

and this harvard educated

doctorate, professor of post-colonial

suddenly seems vulnerable

so naked that

I could see her bones shake

through her skin

and she keeps saying

"the benedryl is getting the best of me"

yet only I understand

benedryl as heartbreak

that runs through her body

like benedryl

placing her mind on the train tracks

of love lost locomotives

that may cause drowsiness

and only i see

that frown

hidden in a false comforting smile

 

yet then again

 

she rubs her nose and sneezes

as if it were allergies

and, perhaps, it is just me

reflecting my broken heart

off of her

because misery loves company

and if it's ok for a scholar

to cry from a broken heart

then it is ok

for me to cry too.

Reviews

[cest la vie]

Ok .. stop-the-train..
Ha..I love this piece.. I mean when I say I love it I mean I LOVE THIS PIECE!!!

Everything is just spot on. You have taken a seemingly trivial situation ( a scholar teaching) and managed to build a story about two people with much in common and that is pretty darn remarkable..
Yes, I will read this again for the sheer pleasure of it and to hopefully have some of your mad skills fly off into my eyes and take root.

Well done!!

[Marie Anzalone]

Parker Palmer tells the story of a rabbi and his disciple. The disciple asks, "Rabbi, when we pray, why do we pray to place the scared words upon our heats? Why not pray to place the sacred words in our hearts, where they belong?"

And the rabbi answers, "Because, my son, in our current state, our hearts are closed tightly shut. They must be broken in order for the words to fall inside".

You, my friend, have the talent to make the words fall in.

[Lilly Negoi]

lovely :) top to bottom absolutely lovely :)

[Emily B]

oh, yes, this is amazing stuff