Under armadillo armor
rough torn patches
iron tough.
Beneath taut scars
abraded tissue torn
to compost fodder.
Down, down into dark –
cry to sleep, count sheep,
dashed dreams and nightmares: childhood
locked away in congealed memories which long
for light, fresh air
a taste of freedom from their rancid selves.
Chip away concretionary surfaces.
Run barefoot through the violet crystal
center of my heart.
Beth Brody (she/her) was awarded an MFA in Writing for Children from Vermont College of Fine Arts and is currently doing post-graduate work in poetry. Beth won
the 2018 Writer’s Digest Poetry Award, placed second in the CT Poetry Society Nutmeg Awards 2023, and has poetry published in a dozen journals and anthologies. She was a Contributor in Poetry at the Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference 2022. Beth’s writing dream is to have her poems thumbtacked to a reader’s bulletin board as daily inspiration.