Another Mistaken Anima

By Alexander Thorne

Another Mistaken Anima is a poetry collection by Alexander Thorne inspired by other underground poets.

The collection is split into five sections; each with their own length and theme. These themes cover broad subjects such as death, nature, and family.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alexander Thorne
• Release date: Oct 20, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301045563

Alexander Thorne

Alexander Thorne was born in 1989 and spends most of his time living in western Michigan. His submitted work has appeared in the e-magazine Phoenix Lore, the short fiction and poetry collection There Are Monsters Everywhere, and in news articles from the Western Herald. His self-published poetry chapbooks are entited Another Mistaken Anima and People I Can't or Won't Have Another Conversation With.Email me at:[e-mail]

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Acknowledgements

This poetry collection is dedicated to my parents.

I'd like to thank David Bain, Michelle Bonczek, Shannon Jonas, Brittany Kay Lee, Allie Levitin, Michael David Marshall, Conor McShane, Tyler Meese, Cody Morris, Avi Sotonzadeh, Aaron Sternaman, and Shana Wolstein for helping me put together these poems—without them I could not have done this.

I'd also like to thank the late Thomas James for all his written inspiration.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

-George Santayana

A Poem That Says Hello

The bony hand is waving.

Clouds are hard as rock.

The sun shines as something nuclear.

The strong trees green in increments,

Then wither. Cat fur whitens

In wet weather. The moon spreads

Over the fountain, thick and serene.

Up the hospital stairs:

The moon is merely a fingernail; it enlightens

Those that are dead, walking out of here

Through their shut doors. The morning papers

Go unnoticed by most others.

That same distance is full of dragons,

bad card store nonfiction, death

Glorified as an old friend.

In a campus convenience store, through revolving

Years,

The man missing an appendix has memorized

His mother's last smile. A brand-new script

For an old film. His stomach is

Riddled with holes. The acidic organ

Is a punctured whale. He walks

In his black, professional jacket,

Badges to be recognized, the mark

Of knowledge. They bring him

Paychecks on time

That are a step away from being blood-soaked.

Once a woman lied away

In an ER. Widowlike,

She curls in her bed and waits,

The victim of vodka disguised as water. Her

skin grew yellower, the rain

Spattered across the window. The tongue

Slackened. The gloved hands of doctors

Couldn't disturb her perfect sleep.

Mother, friend, most lost of wives.

In the Hospital

The doctors came so fast.

But it is clear that there is no way out

Of avoiding this damage.

They cannot stop it with all their hands.

I have to say goodbye now.

I'll wait here while they try to save you.

I want you to know

That I've been storing up my concerns also.

You see, they can only slow your short body

With their believable chemicals

Or fill you up with their average food.

Sometimes they even recommend

Your son to massage you where you need

Or all of that water

That makes your liver work through less.

As I watch you lay down,

I want to stand on my back porch

Where the sun is dying

And feel the delicate wind blowing

Across my shoulders

Just as a tornado starts to form.

But my body is full of traveled roads

Where it is impossible

For the drugged aspect within me

To lose herself.

Now she is wavering by a ditch,

And I am afraid of what she might see.

Here in the hospital

Everything is different.

The illnesses of everyone else

Heal with a kind of mockery,

I have watched the bright eyes of an egg-headed baby

Turn from blue to brown

Whether it was in or out of my arms.

But now you are going way from me,

And I understand that this business will never be done.

They are unplugging your body, wrapped in blankets,

Into a quiet room

Where the thick walls wait continually

And your pieces are removed from your puzzle.

Clothes on the Floor

This night I remembered

How my mother's skin yellowed one year

And then stopped changing color.

A woman is coming through the