
To a chronically pained body
You modern Ovid, you are the tales/ & the teller.
You modern Ovid, you are the tales
& the teller. Pain made metaphor is
pain made real. Reality seldom allows
for it without language. & once worded,
metamorphosis follows. Many will
make of you a narrative. Some curiosity
to interpret. Split the parts apart
for meaning. Question the analysis.
Then comes another with new
interpretation. Definitive theories. Always
back to meaning. And you, called mal-
functioning machine, broken engine, or
some other thing in this new vernacular.
Remember: you have a name. You are
that body, yes, & that story & more & more
& more.