Poem: Evidence of Emotion

 

Evidence of Emotion

 

by Alice Jane-Marie Massa

 

 

In the courtroom of the heart,

I offer you Exhibit A–

clear lenses of glasses

stained with teardrops.

 

Washing these unnecessarily prescription lenses

on this nearly frosted morning,

I think of the evidence of emotion,

the tear stains,

disappearing beneath

a cascade of water

and the touch of my finger.

 

Is the sadness of yesterday

now erased, forgotten,

evaluated, or forestalled?

 

Back in the courtroom of the heart,

an unqualified judge asked,

“Why do you wear these glasses

if you have no vision?”

 

My testimony began:

“Since I was seven,

I have been wearing glasses:

they seem as much a part of me

as my right hand

and my left leg,

as the clothes

I don each day.

Exhibit A has protected me

from hurt

or from greater injury

when I fell off my bike,

when a door was accidentally slung into my face,

when I encountered a piece of construction equipment

on the Kilbourn Drawbridge.

Wearing these glasses

calms my concerns

about being poked

by a low-hanging branch.

Through so many seasons of walking,

these glasses have shielded my broken eyes

from raindrops, snowflakes,

stinging sleet, and drying winds.

Believe me, I do not wear them for vanity:

I let my congenitally impaired vanity

dissolve decades ago.

Most of all,

I wear these glasses

to catch the tears

of emotions

so that I have proof

that I did not squelch

nor hide

all that I felt

on any yesterday.

I will admit

that I am not

an amateur holder of emotions:

I ascend from Italian descent;

I am

a professional holder of emotions–

a poet

who translates

tear stains

into the adversities of verse,

the joy of enjambment,

and the strides of stanzas.”

 

Midst the murmurs

magnifying in the courtroom,

the judge,

with unknown poetic license,

tapped his gavel and bellowed,

“Poetic order in the court!”

 

 

NOTE:  Written on October 14, 2016, the above poem was my submission for my small-group critique session last evening.  After hearing positive comments about this poem yesterday, I decided to share the poem on my Wordwalk blog today and postpone the family history piece about Lanzone’s Grocery Store to November, when each of my blog posts will focus on “Thanks” from an altitude of gratitude.  Please continue to visit my Wordwalk blog throughout the upcoming month of thanks.

 

Happy Halloween!

Alice and Willow

 

October 26, 2016, Wednesday

 

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