‘Sometimes We Choose A Person to Perpetuate Familial Blanks’ by Dara Cerv

You never leave me / Long enough to heal

We encounter all sorts of divides and halves every day in our lives, but to see it visually replicated in such a sparse and deftly woven poem is truly something else. The anaphora of “Hello” serves as an open and close with the bodies, blank spaces, and the self. Consider how striking the following lines are, and think about how you interpret them:

The bristled womb of earth                   In your cabin
Bombed from sleep by the toilet

and

Empathy is sometimes rage                   filtered
By the desire to join                               with the lovable enemy.

I don’t have the answer to this poem, nor do I know what it wants from me. But I will continue to read it over and over again, hoping to be whole.

The Shallow Ends