Head with Stopper, pottery piece by Ken Carder

Patricia Deaton
FULL-UP
after “Head with Stopper” by Ken Carder

I need a head with an urn attached
stopper on top, handle to hold
so I can tilt and spill out thoughts
working to wreck my psyche.
Most are useless anyway. Pressure
to contain them builds. I want relief.

Let me pour out my heart with bruised
and sculpted scowl at life. Too long,
a washed-up fighter—weary, caved-in
servant. High pain tolerance, this
comic villain with red cut marks,
wounds from ideas flung right back.

I could stand beside a building, spew
my guts, graffiti-style, all over concrete
walls or join a group of masked paint
ballers, splatter them with residue. Safer
to tilt my head and fountain across the lawn;
see if streams of musings kill the grass.

Patricia Deaton reads her work at the June 20 Art of Poetry event at Hickory Museum of Art. Photo courtesy of Roger and Ginny Sanford.

Hickory Museum of Art will be site for the inaugural Fall Face to Face Poetry Gathering, September 18 and 19, 2015. Poets from across North America will be coming to Hickory, NC for workshops, poetry readings, and networking. The next Art of Poetry event will be part of the gathering at 2 pm on Saturday, September 19 at Hickory Museum of Art. Check the sidebar on our website for more information. Hope you will join us!