What the Body Gives, Gravity Takes (Cento)

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balance

 

What the Body Gives, Gravity Takes (Cento) 

As if what we wanted
were not the thing
that falls,

as what was given
to answer ourselves with – air

moving, a stone
on a stone,
something balanced momentarily.

Or wheels turning,
spinning, spinning.

The waters would suffer
at being waves,
but nothing of their dream
takes place,

nothing that is complete
breathes. But the world
is peopled with objects.

You grow smaller,
smaller, and always
heavier.

You can think of nothing else.

 

Credits:

Jane Hirshfield, Gustaf Sobin, George Oppen, Joy Harjo, Alberto de Lacerda, Jacques Dupin, Francis Ponge, Denise Levertov, Jacques Roubaud.

* * *

“What the Body Gives, Gravity Takes” appeared in Issue Four of Long Exposure, in October 2016.
wheels

31 thoughts on “What the Body Gives, Gravity Takes (Cento)”

  1. Pingback: Kitty Jarman

  3. the sort of stupa pictured above is common in Korea, the beach near me, has hundreds of these stupas made with scoria stones, which get reassembled by the perpetually altering flock of tourists. they should be composed of 8 stones, one stone for each of the Eightfold Noble Path.

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  9. Pingback: Recording of “What the Body Gives, Gravity Takes” | O at the Edges

  11. If I stepped out more often, I’d lose much writing time, and I fought so long to achieve this hermit state! Thanks, Randy!

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