The poem you’ll find at the end of this reflection is about the body, my body, possibly your body, surely all bodies. I have written poems about sex, grief, death, all manner of intimate subjects, but this is the first poem that has given Larry a startled moment of marveling apprehension. After he read it, he let out a little release breath. I asked him about his reaction. He said he could never write or share such a poem; it was so deeply personal. It’s true the poem is revealing and, well, naked. But poems are where I go when I am trying to understand and integrate something in my life. The body is where I am right now. This is what I’m pondering. This phrase, “The Body of Life.” I am beginning to sense some kind of transformation trying to happen in my relationship with Life and my own physicality. And possibly my relationship with the nature of death.
In the banner above, you can see an example of a Mobius strip, referred to in the poem. It is a surface with only one side, formed by giving a half twist to a narrow, rectangular strip of paper and then pasting its two ends together. If you place your finger anywhere on the Mobius strip and trace your finger along the surface, you’ll find you do not come to the other side or the other end. The Mobius strip is one continuous surface. Impossible. But true.
