Old bag of bones <br />upside down, <br />what are you searching for <br />in poetry, <br />in meditation? <br /> <br />The mother you never had? <br /> <br />The child in you <br />that you did not conceive? <br /> <br />Death? <br /> <br />Ease from fear of death? <br /> <br />Revelation? <br /> <br />Dwelling in the house of clouds <br />where you imagine <br />you once lived? <br /> <br />'Born alone, <br />we depart alone.' <br />Someone said that <br />during meditation <br />& I nearly wept. <br /> <br />Oh melancholy lady <br />behind your clown face, <br />behind your wisecracks- <br />how heady it is <br />to let the ideas rush to your brain! <br /> <br />But even upside down, <br />you are sad. <br /> <br />Even upside down, <br />you think of your death. <br />Even upside down, <br />you curse the emptiness. <br /> <br />Meditating <br />on the immobile lotus, <br />your mind takes flight <br />like a butterfly <br />& dabbles in bloodred poppies <br />& purple heather. <br /> <br />Defying gravity, <br />defying death, <br />what makes you think <br />the body's riddle <br />is better solved <br />upside down? <br /> <br />Blood rushes to your head <br />like images that come too fast <br />to write. <br />After a life held in the double grips <br />of gravity & time, <br />after a headfirst birth <br />out of your mother's bowels <br />& into the earth, <br />you practice for the next. <br /> <br />You make your body light <br />so that in time, <br />feet first, <br />you will be born <br />into the sky.<br /><br />Erica Jong<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/self-portrait-in-shoulder-stand/
