“Blot out my transgressions”
by Daniel Simon
the psalmist reminds us,
that the bones which thou
hast broken may rejoice.
The blows that splinter our
bones are visited upon the
perpetrator as much as
the innocents.
Such biblical transgressions blot
both the naked stain itself and
the pooling blood that spills
from the wound.
The bilabial b, deriving
from the Phoenician word
for house, is buffeted by the wind
sweeping across the mind’s prairie,
white as snow. Leaning into the storm,
the words we speak ricochet backwards,
the house creaks and groans like a ship’s timbers,
clouds spread their black sails like ink
towards the horizon.
Published on June 23, 2022