Shocked Quartz
by Adriana Rewald
On Poland’s attempt to legally “redefine…domestic violence so
that it only applies to spouses who are beaten more than once”
(telegraph.co.uk, January 2, 2019)
We are to understand that force
must be measured. Stress
fractures on local quartz
indicate strength of impact.
After the blast experts gather
to count shatter lines, calculate
damage with back-pedal
formulae designed to better
understand the strength of men
hellbent on besting nature.
One errant space rock kicked up
an extinction event. By god
then so shall man. Nine hundred
nuclear bombs rock Nevada. Crack
its compacted core: consequence.
*
She is strong. Blast radius, blood
vessels, blossom. Her scars map her
credibility. Special sort of collection.
We are to understand that audience
must be earned. Consequence
best when it is good and etched.
Aftermath experts will gather
to extract her quartz, catalogue
her breakage pattern. Algebraic
arrival at proof: must have been
a behemoth of a collision.
It’s exciting what remains
communicate to those
who were not present
when it happened.
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