In the Body

by Kathleen Szoke

                              Everything begins in the body, and ends,
                              engagement and retreat, generation and degeneration
                              and our hands curve in the shape of a bowl.

                              Kisses are passed from mouth to mouth
                              like secrets we keep from ourselves;
                              everything begins in the body, and ends.

                              Freckles scatter like stars across our skin,
                              we trace the patterns of our lives on each other’s bodies
                              and our hands curve in the shape of a bowl.

                             Arms and legs extend us from our centre
                             reaching, entangling us in other lives;
                             everything begins in the body, and ends.

                             Eyes search out the mirror of other eyes,
                             tears carry our salt to the skin of the other
                             and our hands curve in the shape of a bowl.

                             Entropy is inevitable, as order devolves to chaos,
                             our original perfection declines;
                             everything begins in the body, and ends,
                             and our hands curve in the shape of a bowl.

                            
                            In the Body first appeared in The Dalhousie Review,
                            Spring/Summer 2012.