{"id":4994,"date":"2022-03-30T14:32:15","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T14:32:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/farefwd.com\/?p=4994"},"modified":"2022-03-30T14:32:21","modified_gmt":"2022-03-30T14:32:21","slug":"a-sestina-for-the-scars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/farefwd.com\/index.php\/2022\/03\/30\/a-sestina-for-the-scars\/","title":{"rendered":"A Sestina for the Scars"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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A Sestina for the Scars<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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By Barbara Fant<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u201cEvery wound leaves a scar, they\u2019re all over me\u201d<\/em> \u2013 from \u201cScars\u201d by My Brothers and I<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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houses will always be on fire in the night
emergency button above my head in peach
bedroom, there will always be dreams of caskets
people swarming a land I do not care to know,
bullets that fly through glass for bodies to find,
stray as someone\u2019s lost pet, unleashed<\/p>

when the anger of the streets is unleashed
a riot can be found in the mouth of the night
left for the children of broken bodies to find
every tree has fallen fruit, smooth skin of peach,
or pear, plum as the blood that flows for all to know
sometimes we are picking out our own caskets<\/p>

my mother\u2019s burden was an open casket
perched for daughters before adulthood unleashed
we knew that there would always be more to know
unafraid of darkness that appeared in the night
her favorite color was always a shade of peach
a shade of sunset that she hoped we\u2019d never find<\/p>

my daddy\u2019s guns, we\u2019d hope to never find
all the bodies in the streets, too many young caskets
Eric got shot and his mother\u2019s face flushed peach
a rage inside our entire neighborhood unleashed
Shayla was killed in the middle of the night
too many young bodies for my body to know<\/p>

we all have open wounds from the bodies we know
who shot my grandmother, we will never find,
my prayers search for her in the middle of the night
I wear her spirit, even when my body is a casket
her blood inside me is a siren unleashed
the husband who turned my face peach,<\/p>

looks like the man who turned her face peach
fisted men who only resort to what they know
their anger, a generational curse unleashed
history repeats herself in all the blood we find
prayers fall when we open our mouths like caskets
bruises shaped like bodies carving us in the night<\/p>

peach fruit falling slowly for me to find
know how to keep myself from becoming a casket
unleashed like a mouth catching fire in the night<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Barbara Fant<\/strong> has been writing and performing for 15 years. Her first poetry collection,\u00a0Paint, Inside Out<\/i>, was published by Penmanship Books (NYC) in 2010 and her most recent collection,\u00a0Mouths of Garden<\/i>, was published by Sundress Publications in 2022. Her work has been featured by\u00a0Button Poetry<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0Def Poetry Jam<\/i>, and published in\u00a0The Academy of American Poets<\/i>,\u00a0Electric Literature<\/i>,\u00a0Harness Magazine<\/i>,\u00a0The McNeese Review<\/i>, and\u00a0The Ohio State University Press.<\/i>\u00a0Fant believes in the transformative power of art and considers poetry her ministry.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u201cA Sestina for the Scars\u201d<\/strong> is featured in Mouths of Garden<\/i>\u00a0(Sundress Publications, February 2022). To order the book, visit the publisher’s website\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cA Sestina for the Scars\u201d by Barbara 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