How much?

The question is - how much time? mere six weeks

to knit bones, much less than that for a scratch,

forty days for the womb to rest and bleed

out its slow postpartum debris, to catch

its breath after birth. Exactly how much

time after death is the trauma safe to touch?

All my days are sleepless nights far too deep

for tears. It was she who taught me not to weep.

She was a little old school, but it’s rubbed

off - knit into the brain, the mesh of neurons

and won’t unravel, however hard I tug.

I touch this wound only when I’m alone

and my fingers come away wet, not with blood

or tears, any fluid I have ever known.

April was a monumental month, a whirlwind of events public and personal - some terrible, some devastating, some just bad and some not so bad. 

I failed the A-Z 2020 Challenge because I couldn't comment/visit, though my posts all got done as per schedule. I withdrew halfway through. 

I was absent from the WEP Challenge for the first time since I joined. The support, well wishes and prayers from my fellow WEPers were...just beyond words. They chose to award this entry, which was pre-written and scheduled, of course. What can I say? To all those who wrote here and at the WEP site, emailed or used other social media channels to reach out - thank you! But thank you doesn't even begin to cut it.