The Shine Journal

Two Sides of Self

by

Ed Nudelman

It's been years since
you've felt this good.
Another leaf, another
trip around the sun,
all neatly annotated
in your little logbook.
Today you stared
down the old you,
resurrected a new
model without bells
and without whistles.
Slimmed down
the expectations
and anted-up a little
more wiggle-room.
A little more mystery.  
Out the window
old habits, dangerous
alliances, unrealistic
theorems of burgeoning self.
And yet, after all this fuss,
the enameled chips
on your kitchen floor
still form a pattern
as recognizable
as the folds on your skin.
They bear your name,
your letters:

part flourish, part rune

BIO: Edward Nudelman's first book of poetry, “Night Fires,” was a semifinalist for the “Journal Award in Poetry,” (also known as the Charles B. Wheeler Prize) sponsored by The Ohio State University Press, which selects one full-length manuscript of poetry each year for publication, and is currently in press by Pudding House Publications. His poems have been published in Ampersand, The Atlanta Review, Mipoesias, Syntax, Plainsongs, Tears in the Fence, FourW, New Writing, The Shine Journal and many other poetry journals and anthologies. He is a cancer research scientist with over 65 papers published in peer-reviewed science journals. A graduate of the University of Washington and native of Seattle, he is currently living with his wife and golden retriever in the Boston area.

Graphic by:Thomas Boulvin