Thursday, September 11, 2008

the belly

when we find a piece of our belly
left out in the rain
(the core of a crooked tree
cut through to count the rings)

we look for signs of luck in it
(clovers) and scrub it
with cleaning fluid so it won't

seem as dirty as when we found
it on the sidewalk or
caught that stomach flu from the

laundromat (the place for watching
the tumbling-what it feels like
when we eat our crow)

good acid and good bacteria
churn there
but we want the proper mixture

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Alright! I love your "body part" poems. I guess for lack of a better term, that's what I call them. This one is powerful. It will have me thinking all day.

I also love the core of the tree cut out to count the rings. That's a very interesting connection with the belly. I never thought about it before, but that would be like the belly of the tree. Awesome.

holly said...

That's what I call them Julie! In fact, Nathan has been helping me organize my "body part" poems for a manuscript.
Thanks for your comment...I'm glad you like them.