self-exam (my body is a cage) BY NICK FLYNN Do this: take two fingers, place them on the spot behind your ear, either ear, the spot where your skull drops off into that valley of muscle & nerve—that is the muscle that holds up the skull, that turns the dumb bone this way & that, that nods your face up & down when you think you get it—press deeper, touch the little bundle of nerves buried there, buried in the gristle—the nerves that make you blink when the light bewilders you, that make your tongue slide in & out when you think you’re in love, when you think you need a drink, touch that spot as if you have an itch, close your eyes & listen, please, close your eyes—can you hear it? We think our souls live in boxes, we think someone sits behind our eyes, lording in his little throne, steering the fork to the mouth, the mouth to the tit, we think hungry children live in our bellies & run out with their empty bowls as the food rains down, we sometimes think we are those hungry children, we think we can think anything & it won’t matter, we think we can think cut out her tongue, & then ask her to sing.
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 16:18:37 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015