Bones
I.
may this word become bone
morphemes
elements:
we construct bodies to stand and contain,
to set to motion. to control.
to, suffer the. regulated - world.
after such establishment, a reversal is not
choose –able. no retraction. re-
absorption. cells inhaling, tucking back into their air
so [formed] they walk, (anatman or not, man?) full
of functioning organs,
the oral and the written of which
combat to collaborate.
we find ideas constructed
of porous spindles. see which bends, which breaks. we graft.
link them together, hinged,
jointed notions; a passage, in greek, porosis.
we find a shortage
in marrow.
just that
construction requires so much, and dietary needs confuse:
what to consume,
and today, to refuse?
(think: those who have no words, while we tinker with legions of craft
exoskeletons, spouting) do not eat them: no matter how soft,
how easy.
construction requires so much,
and brittleness seems natural.
hip.
II.
subject.
the ribs of speech enclosing substance folded
over hunched protectively, stern[um] plating
contemplated thought,
that ol’ prophetic heart
of the matter,
the organ that, if interrupted, (murmur here or skip over part)
renders all confines, calcified, sturdy, as
indefensibly
existing. object.
III.
what is caused by deficiency: that brittleness,
a refusal, a failure
to continue, to develop, to be cellularly
vital, and when we cannot flex, what forms?
IV.
there is a condition
in which a transformation occurs: muscle, tendon, ligament become
bone,
all.
skeleton nearly fused into one piece: sheets of bone cover like a carapace.
ribbons and struts of bone lock skull to spine,span and immobilize
shoulder and hip joints. thin stalagmites and stalactites of bone
launch themselves from pelvis and thighs. a slender white bridge
across rib cage delicately but firmly welds upper arm directly to breastbone.
thus, a walking idea
too often dies young, in the jaws of
one clenched hunger, in the grip of
bent-bone over lungs.
although
it may become fused, upright, thriving just-fine,
able to flourish from within one
bone
cage, fixed stolid.
Originally Published: Means of Access, Fall 2002