THE ANATOMY LESSON
“Ribs are long, and thin,
and curved, and slightly twisted.”
Attached at the spine and arching out
to each side, these bones reach
the mid-axillary line; then bending
inward to grasp the sternum, a cage is formed,
enclosing the thorax and holding within,
by a solid hug of ribs, the vital organs:
The Heart and Lungs,
The Phrenic, and the Vagus.
To Autopsy is to self inspect; to self reflect.
Dissected free from fascia, picked clean
from flesh, the rib mirrors the eye.
It has a simple beauty, an archaic truth,
revealed by the careful touch and the proper gaze
of Galen or Vesalius, who while holding this lone
bone torn from chest and bringing it to light
cries out, “Why this bone is long and thin
and curved, and somewhat twisted.”
A single rib, alone, separated
from the body, has a history; it connects
to other times, other spines;
evoking the carcass of each man
now dead and recalling the birth
of Eve. This is the bone into woman
transformed: long and thin,
and curved, and lithely twisted.
After midnight when I cannot sleep
and my thoughts dissolve and blur
along the uncertain edge
of my darkened room, I murmur
to myself, ribs are long, and
thin, and curved, and
sightly twisted.
KURT BIEHL ©2011
UNLOCKED SECLUSION 