Of Human Bodies

Here the subject thinks “there could be flowers” or “the water was a bit disturbed when the ring fell in.” All that, painted from said things, pleases it. That explains all things except for Ovid’s exile which we will probably never understand. That adds to our sense of fragility, confirms the order in which we read. You still have the right to bear arms, “thing and joy,” the anxious doubt that was once written about.

   There are several versions of the story where she is transformed into a swallow, flies around a pillar.
 
   And do you find the rhyme? It originally meant spoken, the sentence, but spoken. Flight, interchangeable with fate. As for myself, I can’t begin to approach the woods with it. The words of its condition.
 

Copyright Credit: Norma Cole, "Of Human Bodies" from Where Shadows Will, City Lights Spotlight No. 1. Copyright © 2009 by Norma Cole.  Reprinted by permission of City Lights Books.
Source: Where Shadows Will (City Lights Books, 2009)