Linus Considers Mortality

Painting by William T. Ayton


Linus Considers Mortality


1.
When they've dumped me in that hole, fingernails curling
in on themselves, will this piece of cloth warm me
or will it be the fires below? Above me, there is a thing like a blanket,
blue and covering, but if examined closely, one sees the holes
where its threads have worn through. I could call this God,
or sky. Some say they are the same. But I,
eternally infantile in appearance, can not believe
in anything beyond the power of the thumb.

2.
When they've dumped me in that hole,
fingernails curling
in on themselves,
will this piece of cloth warm me
or will it be the fires below?

Above me, there is a thing
like a blanket,
blue and covering,
but if examined closely,
one sees the holes
where its threads have worn through.
I could call this God,
or sky. Some say they are the same.
But I, eternally infantile
in appearance, can not believe
in anything beyond the power of the thumb.


C.L. Bledsoe

Posted over on Right Hand Pointing
1. Cortney's prose poem.
2. Line breaks by Glenn Buttkus