My poem “Written on Skin” is featured in a collection of poems to remember the Holocaust, alongside 55 poets from around the world in “Poetry Super Highway.”

Written on Skin

In cursive and script your kiss
is indelibly written on skin.

Even now, the cut from your birth
echoing the rain is written on skin.

The numbers from a time of horror
are held written on skin.

Just as the rings record the age of the tree
my ages and phases are written on skin.

The wood from the forest for the violin
its music etched in wood, written on skin.

The umbilical cord coiled around my neck
is still there, pulsating purple, written on skin.

The parchment of history of storied sacrifice
is written on hides, written on skin.

In ink and dust, blood and bruise
my history is written on skin.

The newspaper stories of massacre
collapse and famine are written on skin.

Gems with facets etched by stone
hidden in garments, written on skin.

Your touch on my earlobe, fingerprints on my face
words and deeds unbidden, written on skin.

First published in the Muddy River Poetry Review #11 in Fall 2014.

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