Back to the Womb - Poem by C.C. Thistlethwaite

Main Gate | Thistlethwaite Poems | Thistlethwaite Songs | Copyright

Back to the Womb

If bullets could fly
backwards
through time,
they would be hailed
as the agents of healers.

Pulled
by distant technicians
through ragged holes
in the bodies of the dying,
they would close wounds
perfectly,
and by so doing,
repair
their own distorted shapes.

Then each would be caught
by a barrel,
like a pea
schlupped up a straw,
and, with a backwards
burst of heat,
lodge
in a safe dark chamber,
to dwell for a time
alone,
with a cold desire
to do evil.

-- C. C. Thistlethwaite

Back to the Womb © D.M. Wideman, 2000