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Saturday, January 20, 2007

Poem written for a back-ache

Articulation

Chalk spools clatter
on a golden cord, worn
pinions gnashing burr
on calcium burr with each
flexion, rotation.

The Oracle burned scapulae
on holy fire and studied cracked
bones for auguries, now he’d need only
put his hands on my spine to learn
what’s coming: those precipitate shoals
where I ran aground, tossing my dice,
chasing the god.

10 comments:

polona said...

oh, love this!

Anonymous said...

this doesn't evoke pleasnat feeling at all. it just makes me say OUCH!

Anonymous said...

Ouch. That hoits.
Do you do yoga? I've only just started, but it seems to be helping my feet, which have turned into troublesome appendages after a lifetime of stepping smartly.

The Lettershaper said...

Excellent work to be had here...so glad I came acroiss your link. As a poet myself, I found much of this inspiring and enriching...thank you!

MB said...

You've managed alchemy... transforming pain into something of strange beauty. Love the ending... haven't we all?

Mise said...

I love the imagery in this, Lori. I feel your pain! :D

Dave said...

Good poem, Lori. Hope you're feeling better soon.

Anonymous said...

Is this the first poem in a while? It seems more compressed its language and vividness than the earlier ones, but maybe I need to go look again...

Woke up with a backache. Must have been sympathetic magic.

Lori Witzel said...

Hey everyone, no worries, it's not serious -- my back just aches sometimes, so I decided to "work with what was at hand," or in this case, at quadratus lumborum. :-)

Polona: Thanks so much! And I'm so glad to "see" you popping by often!

Charlie: Me too! As my master's track coach used to say, "You get a choice -- you can either rust out or wear out." I think I've been doing some of both...

Laura: I have done some yoga, and I just really need to stretch more and regularly. Given my current (and anticipated) level of busy-bee-ness, that's one part of phys ed that just fell off the map for me. I am glad your feet are feeling better -- and who knew we'd have all these places talking back to us?

Hammer: What an amazing avatar you have! Thanks for the kind words, and I hope you stop by from time to time.

Larry: What I think we all need is more levity and less gravity! Anyway, thanks for the "attagirl" -- that image came flashing across my mind as I was sitting and thinking "ow ow ow."

MB: Thanks so much. Well, keep tossing those bones, gal -- maybe you or I or Laura or some others will catch the god sometime!

Mise: I know you're a gym-going kind of guy, so I have no doubt you've got a first-hand knowledge of this...might as well wring beauty from even a creaky back, eh?

Dave: Thanks tons. The achey thing is fleeting, and today is much mo' bettah. Ergonomics, worn joints, weather -- who knows why the ache, but I was determined to wrestle some art out of it.

Marly: Yep, first in a while. Poems bubble up in oddly unpredictable ways for me, unlike people like my blog-friend Refugee who spawns sonnets and villanelles like so many dropped petals. Wishing you an ache-free rest of the day/week...

Pod said...

thats a great transmutation into a poem....have you tried an osteopath...look after your body, and it will look after you worzel