by Lorna Wood
Again Rubbed (Not Quite) Smooth
The etymology of “palimpsest” should include
“not quite,” just as the thing itself includes the not quite
of memories, rewritten to flatter and cohere;
the ineradicable traces and hopes, the growth
and decay of our not-quite selves; our relationships
too, with parents and children, rewritten from cradle
to grave, and likewise re-inscribed with each new lover
and our memories of old ones, yet never quite—
until ridges of twisted scar tissue
harden into some symbol that lessens
the pain, as long as you leave it alone.
