Bursting at the Seams (an ekphrasic poem) by Ayla Rogers

Bursting at the Seams (an ekphrasic poem) by Ayla Rogers

By now she’s sure she’s bursting at the seams.

After all these years spent scaling buildings,

Putting herself together brick by brick,

Illuminating herself stroke by stroke,

Line by line, she builds a strong foundation.

Light by blinding light, she fills in color.

Holding herself together with mortar,

Remerging memories as melodies

Spin nebula through mindful stormy seas.

Her eloquence speaks in deep thundering

Resonance from these unrivaled heavens,

Crafted by her own imagination,

Hanging on the stars cast from her lashes--

They languish in the limelight of her dreams.

Dismantling her walls with stamina,

With gusto, with fire—with courage she breaks,

Tears it all down, her bound’ries crumbling.

Erected by an aerosol rainbow,

Her head catapulted to such great heights,

Cracking old paradigms as though eggshells

Could no longer encase her heart in lace,

Or the porcelain of yesterday’s dolls--

With their eyes forced closed at every repose.

Now she bats her eyes at passing strangers—

Those who hang suspended in the balance,

Between relics of heartache and malice,

Seducing their fears with such shameless tears--

Bathing their tarnish in brilliant color,

Begging they linger a while beneath her.

In reverence she keeps her eyes cast down,

Toward splinters she invites under her skin.

Her elegance makes her lower her eyes

To those pouring concrete and plowing fields.

In remembrance she casts a downward gaze

To the rubble from whence she is risen.