The Incomplete is Unforgiving
       

Split a rock right. To a sharp
eye, it takes the lay of the landscape
from which it was lifted. Man,
have a lighter hand on that
fragment of world.

Fault lines the inner life, as any
soul can see. A skull
will not break clean
like an antler under the hand
of a cutter of arrowheads.
But it will break.

Use a flint blade older than shale,
harder than steel. One blow
will send concordant waves
through a seam of layered faces.
Hold the wedge with a little
lateral give, and you will have

yourself a second weapon.

Copyright © 2009 A.E. Stringer All rights reserved
from Human Costume
Salmon Poetry
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission