Every time I swallow I can feel Etta James in my throat.
In anatomy they tell you everything you ever need to know about yourself.
Like how we sneeze at 100 mph and how it's possible for your bones to self destruct at any minute
but they never tell you where it all came from.
Sure biology or history can tell you that too if you really want
But its too general. Too impersonal
They'll tell you that my smile and the smile of the boy who sits next to me came from the same place
and they'll be wrong/right
His smile comes from some place open and beautiful and cold but like, light jacket cold. Somewhere in the mountains maybe. I'm there too
My smile comes from some place warm and familiar and there is a good couch to take a nap on. Maybe in a cabin somewhere in the mountains. He'll be there too
My smile came from him, my ears from Aaron Carter
and my guts came from a movie I saw in high school.
I've got the knees of bees'
and the eyes of artists' because I can see the bigger picture
My cheekbones came from all the knock knock jokes
and my heart came from God.
I've got the feet of a 100 meter sprinter just before the gunshots
and the hands of someone who spent too much time on the monkey bars
My elbows and and my brain are actually made from the same tissue because they both can't stop thinking about how funny everything is.
I got my eyebrows off the internet
but my tears are from you.
I've got my fathers phalanges and my mothers jawline
my wrinkly eyes belong to my grandpa
and my back belongs to my grandmother
and my bones belong to me.
mmm hmmm. MMMM HMMM. I admire how you've always kept writing. You've never stopped. I go in these waves where sometimes I let my soul shut down, and I just can't seem to write. But you, m'dear, it's like you have these poetry lenses that allow you to see and think differently than all of us. Bet they didn't tell you that in anatomy, did they?
ReplyDeleteAnywho, I love this. Love. This.
girl I feel how you feel. always. I feel like that is all I write about. how I can't write. It's awful and there is no cure. just push through
Delete"His smile comes from some place open and beautiful and cold but like, light jacket cold."
ReplyDeleteI like this cause it's like not cold, cold. But a little chilly where you're … almost comfortable, but just enough not comfortable to make him different than the rest.
"I got my eyebrows off the internet"
ReplyDeletesums up our generation perfectly. but, forgive me because i'm a poor complimenter, I really loved this and you and the essence of you IN this, you know? it just works.
Holy crap this is amazing.
ReplyDeleteYou're just a good writer. I'm not saying I don't like the sad stuff, but I'm sick of the sad stuff sometimes, and this just makes my heart feel like it's in the microwave, but not really the microwave, more like the warming setting in the oven, or even better, like it just got out of the dryer and it's cold outside, it's cold outside, it's cold outside.
I hope things are good, wherever you are.
"my guts came from a movie I saw in high school."
Great line. Great post. I want to use this as an example when we write about our bones. Or something.
First line. Oh baby.
ReplyDelete