Kathryn Sturdevant | Herald Contributor

Not a lot of people take the time to read poetry in this generation, and it is mostly because our faces are locked onto our screens. We have forgotten the way that words can impact us through poetry and books.

The majority of people don’t dip their toes into poetry because of the fear of not understanding and connecting the metaphors perfectly. There is another side of poetry — a side that allows us to open our eyes to human connection and understanding one another.

The poem I chose to discuss is by Thom Satterlee, and it focuses on the hardship of love. So take your time and read this poem with your heart open. Poetry is like a lake, you don’t swim in a lake to get to places, you swim to enjoy the water upon your skin.

Look up from your phones and take a second out of your busy lives to read words that are filled with emotion.

Poem: Thom Satterlee

Question 4: Whether, Once Wounded by Love, One Ever Heals Completely?

It’s like picking at a scab, this love.

I’m a boy again with crusted skin

On my knee. It’s best to let it be, but I shove

My nails underneath, and the pleasure-pain

First shocks, then throbs, then only feels uncovered.

So it is when I hear her singing in the yard.

I know I shouldn’t look, but overpowered

I do—I turn—I gaze—quickly but hard.

Then I feel as if I’ve ripped off all of my skin:

behind this desk I’m bones and a beating heart—

Pitiful, raw, and promising once again

this time’s the last. I beg the healing to start,

layer upon layer, until I’m so scanned over

no one, not even I, can penetrate the cover. 

This poem touches on the theme of remembering what we have lost, and it is mostly about the aspect of losing someone in your life. It is hard not to go back into our memories and pick at our own scabs again because we can’t help it.

Everyone has scabs and deals with this notion of leaving someone you cared about behind, but objects and memories remind us of them. The reminder is painful, but this poem shows us that we are not alone.

Thom Satterlee writes about this pain that he experienced in his life. These words that he wrote were then made to be spread amongst others’ minds. It’s this particular type of idea that hits home for many people because almost all of us experience it.

We all have people come in and out of our lives like a wave. Sometimes if we look back at those people, we lose our grip and forget how to swim. This poem brings light to why we’re drowning and why we feel the way that we do. These words can help us understand our hardships and make sense of the feelings we tend to ignore.