I love you, I love you, so I make something for you
with my one magic. Here is a word, take it, take it,
a gift for the day you collapse. This word is needed
in all known languages but first it is for you. I
whisper into the world for you to recall: the story of
the hedgehog from the eternal forest. Who pawed
bits of wisdom from other animals. Who pinned
fine words to his quills. Who made himself
spectacular, a word that does not have to mean
beautiful. Who adorned himself with cleverness,
worn without warmth, even in winter. All his
embellishment reflecting like scales on silverfish,
flash and flash of borrowed light on shallow
surfaces. How very proud the hedgehog was, of
aphorisms & paste. Borrowed bright bedecking of
what other people want to see, never nibbling at the
wisdom for himself. You remember it now, as if it
had always existed. This story, every story,
born of the facts and also the telling. The
hedgehog understands: the point, the sharp point.
No one in the fable forest will admit that he who is
surrounded by wisdom is not wise. I prick you
once, twice when I pin the ending to your lapel. I
hurt you with the inevitable, instantaneous, magical
denouement when the witch strips him of
everything. Shears him, down to the skin. A
naked rat. He stands there in revelation. His trauma
is a burial shroud realizing its shape is only a
memory. His squeaks fall, fully seen, and
flee. Dear god, nothing will stick to him now.
My love, in your anguish I remember my own pain,
several times now, the rip and relinquishing of all I
thought I knew. I have shadowed futures that never
fit but I liked the way my reflection looked back
from other peoples’ eyes. Lies and errata. Mostly
self wrought. You seem to be waiting for a
witch to free you. I am unwilling to peel you. You
are so intent on being seen running you do not
notice you are suspended over the ravine, a cartoon
coyote, the cliff already crossed. How long can
gravity be delayed? Take this. It means: an instant
and traumatic hedgehog denuding. Use it, a
shibboleth to find the others who murmur and touch
their heart in reflex, swear yes, yes I was naked and
cold and embarrassed and frightened. Yes, yes, it is
possible to survive the moment you lay down
everything unbearable all at once and find yourself,
willing to walk away.
