Open Wounds. a poem by Gordon Phinn

Open Wounds

In the seemingly endless centuries
Of conflict and connived resolution
 
Where races strived mightily
To eliminate whatever Other
 
Seemed to stand in their way,
The wounded heart of humanity
 
Bled and never healed.  Tribes,
Sometimes tricked, sometimes swallowed,
 
Trickled into nations, only to discover
A more devious destiny daily unfolding.
 
Both conquerors and conquered contest
With despair as much as each other.
 
In prayer, in silence, in jovial celebration,
The bitter jest of death was always
 
The uninvited guest.  And now, as news
Announces every second, we can, if
 
We wish, be endlessly aware of insult
And outrage, injury and anguish, and
 
That trauma center we inhabit,
Whether we care to or not, bleeds us
 
Without mercy or closure, until we
See the absence of mitigation
 
Is no accident of fate.  The heart
Is here to bleed, and we, while
 
Wistful for release, are all its
Open wounds.

Return to Journal

Gordon Phinn has been writing and publishing in a number of genres and formats since 1975, and through a great deal of change and growth in CanLit.  Canada’s literary field has gone from the nationalist birth pangs of ’65 – ’75 to its full blooming of the 80s and 90s, and it is currently coping as well as it can with the immediacy and proliferation of digital exposure and all the financial trials that come with it. Phinn’s own reactions was to open himself to the practices of blogging and videoblogging, and he now considers himself something of an old hand. His Youtube podcast, GordsPoetryShow, has just reached its 78th edition, and his my blog “anotherwordofgord” at WordPress continues to attract subscribers.

Phinn’s book output is split between literary titles, most recently, The Poet Stuart, Bowering and McFadden, and It’s All About Me. His metaphysical expression includes You Are History, The Word of Gord On The Meaning Of Life.

WordCity Literary Journal is provided free to readers from all around the world, and there is no cost to writers submitting their work. Substantial time and expertise goes into each issue, and if you would like to contribute to those efforts, and the costs associated with maintaining this site, we thank you for your support.