Favoring One Side
Because the left ankle wobbles,
the right ankle thickens, compensates.
The sore tooth rests. The others
swoop in, rise up against bread and soup.
One shoulder an inch closer
to the ear, and on the opposite side, a rib
tugging away from the core.
The body is protective of itself, favoring
one side when injury assails
bones, loosens tendons. We’ve got this
under control, double of almost
everything. What isn’t duplicated in us
is at least hooked to a substitute,
and it comes rushing in should we need
it, should we give it a little yank.
We borrow it and it is ours. Our sturdy grip
exists because it did not used to,
but we needed a sling, a shield, a cradle.
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8 comments:
I like this, especially "What isn't duplicated in us/ is at least hooked to a substitute".
I feel as Maureen...I am glad that we are duplicated in ourselves! xoxo
Speaking as a person with a sore tooth, I identified!
I like how this could apply equally well to the body politic, or to Gabby Giffords' brain... or to neither.
Sling, shield, cradle, all things that are helps/crutches for our physical body. I liked that ending, as well as these lines, "The sore tooth rests. The others
swoop in, rise up against bread and soup." (Ate soup tonight for dinner, mmm.)
Compensation is a wonderful thing and so often unconscious. Jung wrote a lot about it. We go too far to one side then the psyche swings to the opposite to balance it.
Really liked that one , thanks.
A small hymn to inner equilibrium. Loved it.
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