Resurrecting Scratch

This one was published several years ago in the Mississippi Review, but I can no longer find it there.



Scratch

Victor Grauer

1.

It was a scratch

A scratch

Just a scratch

A small scratch

A scratch on the neck

A scratch from quiet Maria

A scratch from the other night

Or the night before

A scratch on the neck

Just a small scratch

Suddenly he felt it

It felt like nothing

It was just a scratch

He held firmly

To the seat of the chair

He didn't touch the scratch

Maria's scratch.



2.

There was only a little pain

From the tiny scratch

On the side of the neck

He held firmly

To the seat of the chair

Dreaming suddenly

Of small Maria

In her tight clothes

And her loose clothes

Dreaming suddenly

Of small Maria

With her cute hat

 And her smart purse

 Her wild eyes

 And her warm lips

 Dreaming also

Of a tree

Beside a small yellow-green bush

And a floating house

He began to feel bad

Though there was only a little pain

From the scratch.



3.

There was a great celebration

But he didn't feel like celebrating

He held firmly

To the seat of the chair

And saw the huge room fading

And heard the huge noise fading

And the huge silence fading

And the darkness fading

From the scratch

He held firmly

To the seat of the chair

The up and down-ness fading

The right and left-ness fading

He held firmly

To the seat of the chair

The he and she-ness fading

The me and you-ness fading

From the scratch

And the house was floating

Beside a tree

And the small yellow-green bush

Was really there.