“having outlasted some of/myself”
This body so slow to grow
so long to love herself
This body an improbable hickory
an untabled olive
an unbeamed white oak
This body the wide indifferent ocean
the exotic elusive exomoon
the encircling balm of sea
the long long row home
This body a cardinal northern and crestless
a turkey wild and low in flight
a woodpecker pileated and laughing
a bobwhite precocial and evasive
a hummingbird ruby throated and untreatened
This body this body this body
“having outlasted some of/myself” from “Learning to Swim” by Elizabeth Bradfield posted, 12 June 2017, in “Poem-a-Day | Poets.org”
10 thoughts on "“having outlasted some of/myself”"
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Yes!
This is beautiful! I especially like “an improbable hickory/an untabled olive,” but each line stands out as unique.
Thanks for overlooking the misspelled “threatened” !
. . .so long to love herself.
Hard, challenging lesson captured so well. Such good work, Melva.
So many wonderful lines here !
I especially like “the long row home”.
Your work here prompted me to write a “this body”, albeit very different from yours.
Thank you !
oops, forgot to sign the last one.
K. Bruce Florence
Thanks all.
wish my body was as exotic as a wild turkey or a ruby throated hummingbird…feels more like a toothache
So many beautiful images – very sensual. I love the different versions contained within one body. It’s so true!
We are such bodies of contradiction, perhaps the definition of “human”.