PORTRAIT OF MY BODY AS A BOOK
the book of my body
begins from the end
chapter 1 [epilogue]: glory. /i am everything/ God ordained/
before the beginning.
chapter 2 [conclusion]: a body rests/ in the Lord
yea, though the dust eats my flesh into itself,
i will fear no evil for i am the resurrection & the life
in the sinews that make my flesh is an immortal Spirit.
chapter 3 [living]: i am the path for a coming generation.
i am preacher man. i am pulpit. i am poet. i am lyrics.
i am music. i am neo-soul. i am alternative.
i am every good thing my body contains.
this wide space is for the things
that hasn’t come in my dreams & visions.
chapter 4 [hurts]: i fall. i rise. i am a battle
between my emotions & my realities. fair lady
says my love is a voice that sounds like war,
says she is afraid i am everything that love is not…
chapter 5 [a theme of love]: a fair lady comes/ into my life.
i christen her Carolina/because she is the matrimony/between my eyes/ & my heart.
chapter 6 [2nd discovery]: i am a boy seeking the light.
within the cosmos of my search,
i find i am the destination i seek.
chapter 7 [1st discovery]: every body/ is different from every body.
chapter 8 [upbringing]: my mother is a lion & a lamb. [fire & water]
chapter 9 [novelty]: ninety-ninety-something… in a hospital ward/
a boy is the origin of laughter.// [also] a boy’s nose perceives the world
for the first time. [the world smells like chemicals & blood]
commentary: i don’t know how else
to describe my body
than to paint it as a book…
feedback: this book is human.
everything you read
breathes at you.
do you feel it?
