Big Bruise

Just think about it

hypothetically

What if instead of its definition

you saw the word’s meaning

And though the mile markers swoosh by

and you’re delirious

and home is five hours away

you didn’t see the spaced indicators 

but the vast prairie to your left speckled by black cows 

and the flaky house barely resting yonder

being swept by a tired woman with too many thoughts

If you could look behind the glossy textbook pages

pasted before you 

and see the tiny people drawing Xs and Ys 

with quills twice the size of their inch-long bodies

in a careful, nonchalant fashion

for they are certain you’ll never venture to look 

Then maybe you would use your eyelids

past their purpose

to see that the bruise on your knee

is a galaxy 

much like our own

floating in an ellipse of purple and black 

unaware that your interested eye and comforting hand 

are gravitating it toward oblivion

and you’d look up at our big bruise 

and think 

what a pretty thing it is to see