Phantom Limb Poem by Carol Fleming Klein

Phantom Limb



Phantom limb
I feel you back again
A heart catch
A cheshire grin
Fading in mid air
A turn of head
A tilt of chin
Across a crowd
A blink of eye
Then gone again

Phantom limb
You're an itch
I can't scratch
A quirked brow
A throat catch
A passing scent
that rings a bell
like Pierre Cardin
Then gone again

Phantom limb
You're an old joke
A voice
with a familiar ring
Passing on the street
not missing a beat

Yet even without you
I know
Somehow
I'll be whole then...
even though
You're gone again.

Monday June 27,1988

POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
I believe I owe the metaphor of this poem to a physician friend. Certainly I remember the analogy coming up as we discussed our responses to the pain of lost relationships.
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
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Carol Fleming Klein

Carol Fleming Klein

Stoneham, Massachusetts
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