Migraine

/ Issue 11.2 /

……….Unless the temples tremble,
this brain burns

few prayers, and this mind
……….minds no shiny Bible

……….when the kind God’s there.
It’s hurt that earns

attention. This hot
……….vein behind this eyeball

……….only learns alertness
by its pain,

and there’s a tender
……….tinder near this ear

……….whose nothing-nature’s
never won a name,

though now its livid suffering
……….proves it’s dear.

……….This hour’s dear
in which this brow’s an altar,

sweating gall
……….like gasoline to grease

……….the angry mass of me
in flames I’ll falter

out of when the graceful
……….burner’s eased.

……….An aimless grief then?
This head wouldn’t say so.

Something briefly smiths
……….its migraine into halo.

George David Clark

George David Clark

George David Clark is an assistant professor of English and creative writing at Washington & Jefferson College. His Reveille (Arkansas, 2015) won the Miller Williams Prize and his recent poems can be found in AGNI, The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, Image, The Southern Review, and elsewhere. The editor of 32 Poems, he lives in Washington, Pennsylvania.
George David Clark

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Author: George David Clark

George David Clark is an assistant professor of English and creative writing at Washington & Jefferson College. His Reveille (Arkansas, 2015) won the Miller Williams Prize and his recent poems can be found in AGNI, The Georgia Review, The Gettysburg Review, Image, The Southern Review, and elsewhere. The editor of 32 Poems, he lives in Washington, Pennsylvania.