Body of Work

Like someone you used to be,
Used to like to be,
Or used to like.

The body remembers being
Young over old, being
Better and sexier.

Work it like everybody’s watching,
Because they are, all waiting,
Hungry for your work.

Body as Memorial

‘The difference is a body is not present in a memorial.’

Old wounds closed by stitches and scars
Or numbed at the stumps.
Other hurts held deep in the guts
Of the mind, limp on.

People fear the pain
And loss, the insult of injury. We should
Fear the memory of pain, of loss, of offense,
Too. For memory is what hurts us most.

Memory reminds us of victim and victor;
Reopens what we thought was closed.
But the body remembers
What the mind

Forgets. Let the body remember
And heal. Let the mind forget
And heal. Our bodies are artefacts.
Our minds, articulate thoughts.

One goes, the other remains
Offered in memoriam
Of the one gone
Out and up.