62131, Post one of your favorite poems... Posted by Phenomenality, Tue Nov-28-06 04:29 PM
ive been gone for a long time, so hopefully this hasn't been done too terribly recently..
this is one of my all time favorite pieces..
..: instructions for a body :..
praise the miracle body: the odd and undeniable mechanics of hand, hundred-boned foot, perfect stretch of tendon
tell me there are no gods then, no master plans for this anatomy with its mobile and evident spark
someone says “children of light” and another, “goddessfragment” and another, “chosen” / a dozen makers, myriad paths, one goal:
some scalpel, some chisel, some crazed sentimental engineer giving rib, giving eyelash, giving gut and thumb --
all mattering. all set down in a going world, vulnerable and divine
in the beginning was the word.
or before time there was a void until a voice said “I” and was
or there was star and dust, explosion and animal, mineral, us::
praise the veins that river these wrists praise the prolapsed valve in a heart praise the scars marking a gall bladder absent praise the rasp and rattle of functioning lungs praise the pre-arthritic ache of elbows and ankles praise the lifeline sectioning a palm praise the photographic pads of fingertips praise the vulnerable dip at the base of a throat praise the muscles surfacing on an abdomen praise these arms that carry babies and anthologies praise the leg hairs that sprout and are shaved praise the ass that refuses to shrink or be hidden praise the cunt that bleeds and accepts, bleeds and accepts praise the prominent ridge of nose praise the strange convexity of ribcage praise the single hair that insists on growing from a right areola praise the dent where the mole was clipped from the back of a neck praise these inner thighs brushing praise these eyelashes that sometimes turn inward praise these hips preparing to spread into a grandmother’s skirt praise the beauty of the freckle on the first knuckle of a left little finger
we're gone / in a blizzard of seconds love the body human while we're here, a gift of minutes on an evolving planet, a country in flux / give thanks
what we take for granted, bone and dirt and the million things that will kill us someday, motion and the pursuit of happiness / no guarantees / give thanks
for chaos theory, ecology, common sense that says we are web. a planet in balance or out, the butterfly in tokyo setting off thunderstorms in iowa, tell me you don't matter to a universe that conspired to give you such a tongue, such rhythm or rhythmless hips, such opposable thumbs – give thanks or go home a waste of spark
speak or let the maker take back your throat march or let the creator rescind your feet dream or let your god destroy your good and fertile mind
this is your warning / this your birthright / do not let this universe regret you.
-marty mcconnell
share yours!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ To change, we must face the dragon of our appetites with another dragon... the life-energy of our Soul...
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