I’ve been reading Kyle Vaughn’s Lightning Paths: 75 Poetry Writing Exercises, which inspired me to delve into another book study of poetry forms and responses. I’ll be making my way through the exercises and prompts between now and the end of the year.
In today’s exercise, Vaughn encourages writers to write a poem in which a word or words are used to paint images.
Gwendolyn’s Dad lingering blood stains on Highway 46 at the scene took her 27 miles out of the way for a year after the fatal wreck
Common Threads 
Oh. This poem. It’s haunting. As someone who’s held hands with Grief at various points in my life, I identified with the need to avoid the places that stir trauma within the body.
Just beautiful.
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I second Lainie’s word – haunting. Oh my. So few words, preciously offered, and the grief is profound. Beautiful and sad.
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“lingering blood stains” certainly creates an image in the mind…and when it’s blood that you know…well I can certainly understand a 27-mile detour. The language is simple, but the effect is powerful, and the hard sound of the final consonant fits the hardness of the poem.
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Kim,
What a heartbreaking poem. I did not expect this after reading your tag. This one cuts deep.
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Heartbreaking! I often use this grim analogy to explain that this very scene is what comes to mind when a person casually asks a person who has been adopted internationally, “Have you ben back to [the country of your birth]?” It’s extremely jarring and personal.
Thanks for sharing!
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Powerful. Places can hold such memories for us–joyful, heartbreaking, terrifying, humorous, tender. You did a superb job using select words to paint this painful picture.
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This is tragic and paints a picture of the grief of loss, of avoiding a common place because of what has happened there.
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