Where are my teeth and shining eyes my
slim knees, easy lope, rib
caged
birds skipping through the covenant
I thought was my heart.
The crosshairs of the lumps in my shoulders.
The dead little finger of the right hand,
you’d leave them? Where do we go
without our friends, these cubits of flesh.
What river can we use to
find what sea
that wouldn’t throw us back.

Ray Amorosi, from “In Fear of Leaving My Body,” Crazyhorse (Spring 2009)