Dark grey mass
Shock-metamorphosed
From meteorite
You abrade
Easily
Scale off memory of impact –
Your shell
Not so hard it crumbles
Not so vulnerable it shatters
Resilience a specimen of the long game
Polymorphous – a learned behavior for trauma
Crystals have such nice faces
In a family of diamonds
Sub-metallic luster
Your allotropic
Double consciousness
White carbon
Thin bones
—
Melissa Eleftherion (she/they) is a writer, a librarian, and a visual artist. Born & raised in Brooklyn, they are the author of two poetry collections, field guide to autobiography (The Operating System, 2018), & gutter rainbows (Querencia Press, 2024), and twelve chapbooks including abject sutures (above/ground press, 2024). Melissa now lives in Northern California where she manages the Ukiah Branch Library, curates the LOBA Reading Series, and serves as Poet Laureate Emeritus of the City of Ukiah. Recent work is available at www.apoetlibrarian.wordpress.com.
