Narrow Marrow

Fresh Finds, Poetry

Narrow Marrow

Katie Frances Hartless

Historical Fiction, loss, pain

She’s new, so you know, go easy on her.

Happy Wednesday!

Narrow Marrow

My heart is the Babyn Yar,
a cursed ravine,
site of a massacre.

Insanity overgrown,
a feral place,
lost loves piled
in a mass grave.

First, their leather baggage.
Then, their leather shoes.

Their clothes in piles
of sordid memory,
undergarments, boots,
a malicious menagerie.

My heart is the Babyn Yar,
lie down on a stranger
await machine gun fire.

Layer upon layer,
skin upon skin,
bullied by a bullet, but
nothing makes a dent

in that cursed place
without a landmark
or monument.

In a kaleidoscope of lies,
I am the blackest butterfly.

Laura Veirs “Black Butterfly” 2007

9 responses to “Narrow Marrow”

johnlmalone

wow ! this is dark, heavy and powerful; and that crazy, crucifying couplet ; Plathian in its intensity —

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1. K. Hartless
  
  Yes, I started with this image of a ravine in my heart, and then learned about Babyn Yar and had to write about it. It was an unthinkable atrocity and one never mentioned in my own education.
  
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  1. johnlmalone
    
    I did know of it;maybe that’s partly why the poem hit so hard —
    
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  2. K. Hartless
    
    Yes. I think the poem is me processing what I learned in my research. I am shocked that its not a part of mandatory history.
    
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  3. johnlmalone
    
    I believe research is critical if a work is to have heft and authenticity ; this poem has it !
    
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Colleen M. Chesebro

This is so powerful!!

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1. K. Hartless
  
  Thank you, Colleen. I think this huge atrocity fascinated me so much that I had to try to make sense of it in my own way. I appreciate you reading and commenting here.
  
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  1. Colleen M. Chesebro
    
    It’s always a pleasure to read your poetry, K.
    
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Tom

Deeply heartfelt poem for an untaught dark chapter of recent history – you’ve penned such a poignant tribute to this shameful massacre & the individual fragments of their lives snatched away. It’s so important that we keep raising awareness of such horrific crimes lest they be repeated.

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