The Power Of Repetitions Poem by RIC BASTASA

repetitions, you say are
reinforcements, a promise that
there shall be no forgetting between the stalk and the leaf
once upon a tree.

there is this river that runs through us
and i am at the other side of the bank
you do not see me
alone, am i as usual without the song

i gaze upon the leaf and the stalk
i cut across barks
i rub the knife and sculpt the pain
reshaping it for something so practical and
useful
like a statue of the town god
that i everyday
worship purposely to erase the pain
to numb the nerves

of my being, alone, am i,
in the repetitions, i have learned how to live
and then scribble

on those surfaces
debarked and cleaned.