Dry Bones

among chalky calcium bones
and stale skeleton exhalations

chilled by death’s silent keening
he searches for a deeper meaning

just the basic element survives
no skin, no muscle, tongue or eyes

brittle skeleton, skull and teeth
and no vitals underneath

form and structure linger on
long after life’s poetry is gone

Kim M. Russell, 2017

Reginald Southey
Lewis Carroll (1857)
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27 thoughts on “Dry Bones”

  4. This is an interesting piece Kim – and I like the melancholic but introspective feeling. And oddly enough, the idea of the bones being left behind, sort of a legacy in itself, unless cremation is an option or choice, is coming to my mind, for what then, if there is nothing but ashes? And this also reminds me of something I was reading about – death/burial rituals – where for example, in some cases, in India, after the funeral pyre has burnt itself out, the remaining skull, must be smashed by a relative, in order to break all earthly ties and bonds, so the spirit of the deceased can truly be freed.

    A simple but so well worded and elegant piece Kim. And it has led me to thinking on – in curious questioning. Wonderful 🙂

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      1. it’s a fascinating topic, really – I think the coolest thing I ever saw was a knitter who knit an entire anatomically correct skeleton. It was gorgeous. 3-dimensional and all. Talk about possibilities.

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      5. LOL – and that’s the crazy thing – now I absolutely want to knit one of these things – actually, I’ve always wanted a skeleton – I fell in love with it in art classes – and think it would be totally cool – so if I can ever figure out or find a pattern for one of these knitted ones? Isn’t it just wild what’s out there???

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  8. Form and structure have killed many a fine poet. Ha.
    If its got no heart, it will dry up soon enough.

    Part of the problem with deconstructivism is that the fragments
    are not always as good as the whole.

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  10. Ezekiel connected dem dry bones – a voice promising Resurrection — but without the poetry, all we do have is bones, bones, bones, suggesting the structure of a life without a language for blood, bile, breath — reductive analytics can traject a star’s path, but what of a fine sunny day in the lap of heaven?

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