Body series 10

A list of ten of the most beautiful words in the english language

1) epoch: (noun) the time it takes between my alarm going off in the morning and when I open my eyes and the measure of the sunlight on my eyelids

2) epiphany: (noun) that Thursday afternoon when sunlight poured into the room like honey and I looked in the mirror and noticed the way my eyes were glowing

3) sonorous: (adjective) when I sing in the car with the radio cranked up as loud as it will go and the snow swirling around me the beat and the gas pedal pressed down to the floor

4) serendipity: (noun) the angle of my hip bones against my skin and the musculature of the legs beneath them

5) nefarious: (adjective) the ache in my lips and the pit of my stomach when the wind whispers "kiss me" through the trees

6) ineffable: (adjective) the perfect swirls of dark hair in my armpits and the way they compliment my biceps

7) eloquence: (noun) the sound of each foot slapping the pavement, one after the other

8) effervescence: (noun) the act of my lungs expanding my whole chest, pushing open the cage of my ribs for air

9) ephemeral: (adjective) the way the calluses on the pads of my finger grow stronger with every day I use the tendons and muscles in my hands to hold myself in this world

10) aurora: (noun) this body and this mind in agreement and the way they think "we are here. now"

Body series 9 (a reimagining of mixed metaphors)

"I treat my body like a temple" she says

And her words spin into the air thoughts of high mountain monasteries

The chill of the air upon a pristine rock garden

No traveler has ever before laid eyes on.

I think of thin mountain air that will not nourish the travel's lungs:

Leaves her trying to breathe a full breath.

I think of tall strong walls and a closed gate

And the grey of eternal winter.

"I also treat my body like a temple," I agree

But I mean that I will welcome

Anyone who knocks on my gates in good faith.

My body is a temple with huge doors and huge windows

To let the light in.

My body is a temple in the biggest city on the best traveled road you know.

My body is the sort of temple where

The spires are worn smooth and polished by many hands

It is the sort of temple that holds an abundance of

Plush pillows lounging on my pews.

It is bejeweled by stained glass windows

That transforms all light into God.

My body shelters weary travelers with storied hands

Who hold my warmth like a miracle,

And echoes high priests who recite its history with their clever tongues

from the pulpit,

And echoes back the sweetest songs of the most beautiful women from the beautiful curves

Of its ceilings and walls.

My body is a temple and I would delight in offering

Any pilgrim who kneels before me a temporary salvation.

Beowulf parody: Act 1

Act 1

The first place Monya stopped, in her silver chariot

With her life packed in the back

Was a big brown house in the land of cows and dirt roads

And the cows greeted her with a sweetness

She had never tasted

And the roads rumbled their casual solitude

Every time Monya’s silver chariot rolled across them.

It was summertime in the land of cows and dirt roads

And the days were long and lazy

And filled with the ballads of Adele

And the smell of hay.

On one of her days of leisure, Monya, lover of dirt

Determined that that day of leisure would be the first test of her mettle

She stepped into the sunlight’s clear view

And bared her chest to that most powerful star.

The sun saw her and decided in her aloof curiosity

To send the most powerful of creatures, neither cruel nor kind

To pass judgement on Monya, lover of the earth.

The beast came out of the wood in tooth and claw and fur

And Monya opened her bare chest to the creature

And took it in her strong arms.

In it felt her wrap around it and judged her worthy.

And as it decided it melted back into the woods

As quickly as it came.

And thus Monya had proved her mettle in the first of her adventures

In the land of cows and dirt roads.

Monya met many brave women of the earth in that summertime

Eager to hear of her encounter with the creature of tooth and claw and fur

And boldest was Maddy with hair of sunlight

Who wiped dust from Monya’s face

And kissed Monya with lips as soft as the naked earth

And hands as rough as the raw mountaintops

And whispered kindness into the lopsided ears of her hound.

But Maddy with the sunlight hair and her lopsided hound

Disappeared with the dawn. They took Monya’s

Trousers for memories and Monya was left wander the dirt roads

In bare feet, search of the rising sun.

She looked about but the trees whispered taunts

And the ground prickled at her bare feet.

There were no signs of cows or other travelers

And then--

The smell of sun cooked hay

Monya breathed deeply and began to walk

With tired tread, and thus

She found the sun and her home.

That day in the land of cows and dirt roads

The sun rose and whispered death into the ear of the king of that land

So that he did make a sacrifice of birds of the sky

Who were earthbound with gluttony.

And the king of the land of cows and dirt roads

Called upon Monya, lover of the earth

To help with this sacrifice. So that she too

Did spill the blood of the birds of the sky.

And that day as she spilled blood

She listened to death work next to her.

And by the end of the day Monya, lover of the dirt

Had heard the secrets death whispers

In a voice too low for most souls to hear.

Death had told her of her next adventure

And so the next sunrise Monya, lover of dirt

Packed up her life in the back of her silver chariot

And drove again, into the sunset.

Beowulf Parody Introduction

Introduction

So, the dancers, in days gone by

Worshiped many heroes with their endless

Internet and the greatest of those was

Monya, of the earth, sky, water, and fire.

Monya, beloved daughter of Rose and Steve

Rose and Steve who together slew the great

Beast of Frisbee. Monya, from a long line

Of empowering men and powerful

Women. Great leaders and fighters and lovers.

And the greatest of them all was Monya.

Monya, who one day while in the tallest branches of an apple tree

Heard the call of the earth and sky

Saying “Come, play with us.

“There is much we would show you if you would listen.”

So Monya, lover of the dirt, packed her life

Into her silver chariot and drove

Into the setting sun.

Winter in Western Massachusetts

The star boy looks over the snow
With his club hanging from his belt,
The biting cold makes him shine all the brighter
He is the only one tonight
Not counting down the days until spring.