Old Poem, New Day: Selfness

a collection of elastic energies
wired with electricity
bound up in bone
and fragile flesh
      of wax and water

an amalgamation of
      response and repose
      lost among the beat
                             beat
                              beating
                               of my heart or yours

hopes born in salvage
and sure as the world
self is malleable
it breathes
and everything it smells
becomes a part of it

self records the taste
of Brenda's fried chicken
and the feel of gypsum

self humbles in reverence
staring through tears
into a ceiling so astonishing
it begged to be the last thing
i see before leaving this Earth

self wields a blade
                 a feather
and kneads an earlobe
while thinking of green grapes
making cheeks puff out with giggles in between

self hears the waterfall
before it is seen

tenuously extended over
a chasm of assumptions and expectations
self dangles confident in its fluidity
and its ability to remember all it touches.