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.

I assembled this cento years ago. It seems aligned with my life today…
wheels

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

  12. Intriguing add to multiple ways of viewing my current predicament – good posting timing – thanks! [Literally, my body gave – gravity took – per ortho doc: surgery or not, will never regain full shoulder maneuverability.] Heavy thoughts – indeed I think of nothing else – doc assures that too will fade along with physical pain…

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