Red Thumb
Old aches, and phantom pains like ghosts with gnawing teeth. Secret garden in my heart with all the flowers I planted for her.
I’ve been clearing it out for years now. It’s mostly gravel, but gorgeous weeds sprout every so often. I haven’t the heart to pull them at their roots.
With heartstrings for xylem cells, they drink blood in place of water. Tearing them from the ground would rip muscle and bone from my own body.
I used to use tools. Used to prune all the way to the stem, and fell grand trees with an axe. It was surgical. It was agony.
None of it is real, though. This pain is of the past. A place that has influence, but no real power. A place that exists less each time I mow the lawn.










