Untying the Knot

        Bitter end: The loose end of a rope.

Why do knots form by themselves?

In my blow dryer cord,

cell phone charger,

dog leashes.

What Boy Scout crept into the dark

to practice right over left

around and through?

And what of the sheepshank of worry

in my stomach,

muscles tied tense with monkey’s fists,

my hair tangled in little nooses?

The twists and hitches in our relationship —

who caused those?

Should I have jumped

through one more hoop

to tighten our ties, 

looped my love around you

one more time?

Like a rope,

our marriage failed at the stress of the knot

and frayed at the bitter end.

-Karen Paul Holmes, from the book of the same title, Aldrich Press, June 2014