Body Talk by John Grey

Encyclopædia Britannica

eye embedded in the mossy rock rings

tear evaporates from pebbled paths

tongue, enemy and friend of mankind

back of the neck, purveyor of sunstroke

heart-beat, a fleeting nod to life and death

saliva, a sea stemmed by lips,

brain, epitome of cramped quarters or the

computer company itself

thoughts, a Jewish man engaged in rapid conversation

with a Dominican woman

memory, a sound obsessed with its own history

hands, pincers for the workingman's soul

fingers drumming the tireless tracks

thumb, the baton, palm, the Gypsy storyteller

elbows, part of the outline that holds me in place

shoulders, a fifty year old magpie nest

arms, individual pieces of business

armpits, jungle home of Tarzan, lord of the apes

breast takes its turns beating, feeding

nipple, the shiniest bauble

lungs, in their application, circle the wagons of black wind

chest (see dead man's) yo ho ho and a bottle of...

thorax by Doctor Seuss, navel by an orange

pubis, the God of porn

penis, forever seventeen years old or a fragile jetty .

where the moon docks,

buttocks imitate the swell of two bellies

legs, begging weary ice-shapes

knees, the last resort of unintentional foreplay

toes, the hiding place of lesser molecules -

next stop, the insides -

hands up those who thought they were already there

*****

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident. Recently published in New Plains Review.