we should have
By Carrie Nassif
we, the sisterhood of barbed wire museums
who among us isn’t a collection
of prickly, of misused connections
of twisting pointed links
crafted by thumb and elbow-grease
once wound-tight-over-driftwood
wires long since uncoiled from their uprights
those fence-mending callouses
all smoothed away with time
it was yellow polaroids ago
water over rocks under bridges
we should have lassoed ourselves together
lashed down to weather the storms
built pulleys to lift our souls
cantilevered them up with those heavy, humid clouds
instead we are these remnants
we inventory our fragments
ingeniously knotted or blackened with age
what we used to raise to hold back the baked earth
we wax some kind of nostalgic comfort
buffing white-wealed scars from when we got too close
rubbing fractious aches
from standing at such a distance
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Carrie Nassif
Carrie Nassif’s Artist Statement: Carrie says, “In my other life, I am a clinical psychologist with a full-time private practice. Both roles can be emotionally intense and transformative; but writing is what I do for me. On the other hand, I’m not sure that I could write if I wasn’t also being exposed to the vicarious trauma and healing of other people.” Carrie lives with her wife and son.
