‘What We’re Made Of’ by E. Hughes

pulp of litany
from the tongue,

from the ground
of our bodies,

This week I wanted to share this fantastic short poem by E. Hughes published in Entropy. ‘What We’re Made Of’ is reflection, and bloodline recollection. The short-cropped structure of the poem seems to create its own rhythm, its own concise direction regardless of what structure the reader is expecting. Each image and couplet is intentional to the progression of building a poem that grows to more than the sum of its parts. This poem is an exercise in brevity’s resonance, the compounding effect of language and image and structure. Read it carefully or read it twice, it’s not long, but it feels as if it holds so much more than simply the words on the page.

A legion of weeping

ghosts. The hot
failure of fathers

and mothers.

Entropy