embodied: Yearning, an expansive
mansion in the marrow; pain,
a charger of barbed wire;
andjoy, a freed slave hoisting
hallelujahs through the nerves.
But is this private sector hidden
in heart or brain or bone?
Does it hold
eminent domain inside our heads, live in
vivid ampules under wraps
offut, swim through tissue's minnowed shadings
or skin sublit by polar tongues,
the opalescent flecks ofcellulite
like spectral residues
in flesh ?
As
Socrates said
life's intrinsic
to the soul but accidental
to the body. He said
if the spirit does exist
it isn't a good mixer. In my book
inclusions are not accidents,
though accidents exist.
It's best to conscript them,
the way jazz repeats a slip
till
it sounds right
Just think, it was a mistake
made by plants that created oxygen
and led to us, builders
of plants that change air back
to what our lungs can't trust.
The pivotal kingdom holds
crossbows rigged against intruders,
terra cotta soldiers guarding
rivers reproduced in small,
and shuttlecocking constellations
at the top. Walking, we're borne
up by glancing blows
that form the ground, spirit cities
fraught with once and future
euphorias, with wars.
