Nothing better to help us over a hurdle (or mid-week hump) than a poem. Each Wednesday will feature a new one sent with a personalized invitation: pause, read, relish, sigh. Repeat as desired!

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Sewing Up the Ears

I live
with a sheet
over my head
because
I like it
that way.

It used to have eyeholes
but I plugged them up
so I see only white sheet.
It used to have noseholes
but breathing my own breath
over and over
is so much warmer
and now there is only a blister of damp
where the mouth used to be.
Bumping into things, tripping,
it was awkward at first,
but I learned to take narrow steps,
to walk through the middle of rooms
without touching anything.

You say I look silly –
you forget that I can’t see that.
You say I’ll suffocate,
but it isn’t so.
You say that it’s childish, that I’m showing off,
that I’ll tire of it soon enough.
In a while I won’t even hear you.
I’m sewing up the ears.

~Kathleen Aguero
From Thirsty Day