Woman born with a hole
in her brain, language lobe
no less, yet speaks, writes
and puzzles doctors. She
brings me to a full stop.

Thousands missing
brain chunks like her
yet who still gain
speech, get good jobs
grow amazing souls.

Seems we’re not uniform
like products, can’t be
stamped purple USDA
as we’re greater than
the sum of our parts.

Sitting oblique, gray matter
intact, while wracking
my overflowing slush pile
of words—so humbling.
It’s all in the connections.

 

Diana Morley has published poems in both print and online journals as well as in “Spreading Like Water,” a chapbook, “Splashing”, a poetry collection, and “Oregon’s Almeda Fire”, a photographic and poetic document of the 2020 wildfire.