Poem Therapy at 8:23 P.M. - Harryette Mullen

Harryette Mullen

Shedding Skin
Harryette Mullen

Pulling out of the old scarred skin
(old rough thing I don't need now
I strip off
slip out of
leave behind)

I slough off deadscales
flick skinflakes to the ground

Shedding toughness
peeling layers down
to vulnerable stuff

And I'm blinking off old eyelids
for a new way of seeing

By the rock I rub against
I'm going to be tender again


Poem Therapy has become very much like searching for treasure at a vintage or thrift store: I get a feeling that treasure awaits discovery and then I am drawn, and often stumble upon the very thing I've been searching for, even if I wasn't aware I was looking for it.

Mullen's Shedding Skin is the exact treasure I needed at this very moment to articulate what is happening this year, so far. I think the universe is the horde of barbarians at the gate, battering the stone wall I've spent decades building, stone by rough hewn stone. My fortress has served me well, but, armaments eventually crumble to ruin. It's time to drop the gate, jump the moat and sprint headlong into the wilderness that waits.

I will be tender again.