Loss Poem by Charl JF Cilliers

(The art of losing isn’t hard to master. Elizabeth Bishop)

Could losing be a craft or art?
At times it comes unbidden,
something seemingly not a part
of us. Sometimes it lies hidden

in the heart, fearful accumulations
of hurts we cannot mention,
as we can the daily tribulations
of cellphones or keys lost without intention.
Nothing of loss ever seems quite clear.
At times even the most mundane
seem not to be what they appear
to be: they distract us. Unlike pain.

So, with art, I painstakingly build my losing
into the permanence of crafted words
that I firmly believe are of my own choosing.

But loss still goes unspoken and unheard.