Fracture

Fracture

Jude Ruetschle

in childlike trace, i remember
hot days on Panamucan street
clambering up to meet the gaze
of walls inlaid, in concrete

and the surge of emotion when i
clung to their side
like the palm leaves
brushing against my face

and one day beneath the branches, a nail
snagged against my feet, sent
childish flame tumbling, in
ascetic reverie
into the neighbor’s yard

and yes, i remember the blood, the copper, the broken arm
but I wonder what sweetness, like
cream in tea
softened my slumbering descent

you see,
somewhere in the twinkling night
i’m still falling between houses
leaping through the stinging air
face hot, red
to kiss the pregnant belly of the moon
to thank it for producing so much light, so many
reveries whose cheeks i could kiss
trees whose air i could breathe
from whose boughs i could straddle my laughter
and swing, through the burning sky

and i’d do it again, i would
fall bloodied into your arms
and come cradling my broken bone
home to my mother, who would
embrace her faltering stag and
hold his face
and whisper, with her embraces
it’s okay to fall again

for this is the only way to live:
to come closer
to sear with the pain of discovery
and to run Manila walls
knowing the pain of skin, like ribbons
is a creature running beneath your body,
your sun-smeared bones

---

Jude Ruetschle
Creature & Poet

Jude is a student of Theology at Whitworth University. He reads books, takes rambling walks, and watches the kettle boil. He writes not from any illusion of competency, but to recognize an actuality existing beyond language. This is his debut publication.

Photography by Kamila Maciejewska