Improvisation, week 8

"Drops in the Bucket" by Kay Ryan, Contemporary American Poetry, p. 533:

At first
each drop
makes its
own pock
against the tin.
In time
there is a
thin lacquer
which is
layered and
relayered
till there's
a quantity
of water
with its
own skin
and sense
of purpose,
shocked at
each new violation
of its surface.

"Insult" by Darren Delfosse

In the beginning
each harsh
word creates
a small
indentation.
After a while
there is pooled
medley of
verbal lacerations,
like paper clip cuts
in a desk,
till there's a rash
formation layered
upon the skin
with a wickedness
all its own.
And it seeps,
and seeps,
until the skin
forgets who it was
and becomes
its own mutated
insult.