The Household Body
“Can I speak with the head of the house?” The Telemarketer asked.
I thought: Do houses have heads, and can you speak with them?
“No,” I said.
But then I thought: If a person is the head, then who is the anus?
The colon? maybe someone full of shit?
The feet and legs hold the weight,
hands and arms lift,
While the heart keeps pumping.
Bodies need all the pieces to work.
In small houses people would have multiple functions like:
Head/arm/stomach,
Or heart/knee/spleen
someone of course would have to flow around
red and blue with good things for everyone and taking away the bad.
What about sex? Do houses have a gender?
Are houses neutral or hermaphroditic?
Maybe this happens in the natural course of formation.
Some people have no house; is there a body for them?
Are they just parts in space floating?
A heart on a street corner,
a little toe somewhere out there cold and alone?
This is so nice. Funny and childlike and sweet.
Thanks. I think working with children helps me think this way. Sometimes it pays off and people laugh in a polite way. Sometimes people avoid eye contact and say “What’s with him?” when I’m out of the room. Mary just leans in and whispers “preschool teacher.” They understand immediately.
nice indeed!
KrishnaBaalu
Beautiful poem! Your last line pricked my eyes. The image of a little toe
somewhere out there cold and alone…a powerful image indeed for society to view with compassion people who have been economically displaced by so-called “development projects.” Thanks for your poem. It’s a poem with
a conscience.
franceonline