stitch

little pins little nails 

in my head 

my skull is like a voodoo doll 

stuck with sharp things 

and yet, no black magic here 

only the fingerprints of my ancestors. in the early 1900s, I think, 

(maybe late Victorian) 

someone shredded a strand 

of our DNA 

and we've been trying to stitch it back together ever since 

it hasn't worked. 

they've only succeeded in leaving my head full of sharp things 

needles and plowshares 

drywall screws and spindles 

the claws of kittens and 

the fingernails of sufferers. 

all trying 

trying to stitch it back together. 

the family line.

By Pamela Zimmerman