Through the “I” of the Needle
The peach is
a belly dancer's fruit.
It has a navel eye for seeing
the world through the skin,
rounded buttocks good
to place against the hand
the way earth reminds flesh
of its being.
Through the eye of the needle,
death is a country
where people wonder
and worry
what it's like to live.
The sullen wish to live
and live soon
to be done with death
and the happy want to stay dead
forever
wondering will it hurt to live
and is there death
after death?
Copyright Credit: “Through the 'I' of the Needle,” from Eggs in the Lake: Poems, by BOA Editions. Copyright © 1977 by Daniela Gioseffi. Permission granted by the author.