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the anatomy of man

I'm feeling particularly down this morning. But instead of take it out on the world (i.e. the half dozen people who bother to read this thing) I decided to share one of my favorite pieces of writing. So, enjoy...hope it makes you feel something.

"When colors don't touch� when words sit as different thoughts� when the days make no year and the years no life� search for the gaps� the in betweens. They touch both sides� they lie measured against the colors and the memories and go unseen� they are not listed� they are untold.

We are the simple men� we are the gaps between the brightest colors and the loudest men� we are the unwritten rhymes� but we make the picture� we make the poems� we crown the faces� we are simple men. We push our hair� we brush our teeth, we soap our bodies, wed rinse our mouths� we look at ourselves in the mirror and laugh at the thought of "we"� it is in me the mirror� it is I who will live this life with my teeth, my hair and my body. There is no perfume in my room� I stink of me.

At times I forget me and lose. I am washed between the lines, I vanish into false pride� I am not everything. I am only me.

I am the rose that brightens the bush� I am the thorn that protects the rose� I am the bush that holds it all together� I am the soil for the bush� I am the worm for the soil� I am the rain for the worm� I am the ocean for the sky and the sky for the rain� I am the river for the ocean� I am the canyon for the river� I am the woman bathing in the river� I am the beautiful woman� I am the rose that brightens her hair.

I am a dream� a day rushes by but I do not. If I am cut I can be stitched. If I am gray I can be brightened. If I am broken I can be mended. If I am dull I can be sharpened. I am resilient.

I am the moon and I pull the waters� I am the moon made from cheese� and the cheese stands alone.

Snow flakes are not individual without a microscope and people are not individual without autonomy. Snow flakes make snow balls� snow balls make snow men� snow men make snow societies� snow societies make snow norms� snow norms make snow deviants� and here I am.

So let's be pirates and explorers.
Come let's be great.
We still can.
I know we can.
For as the world revolves, it revolves around us all.
And as it turns and spins and sputters� it will come, maybe slowly, maybe quickly, to a rest. So I will try and try� I am not born to drink the milk you pour for me� I am the milk!� come stand by my saucer full of life and I will stand happily by yours. Shake friends� spill out and wet the floor� run run run out� go! Do not puddle.
Be glad to mix with me and I will be glad to mix with you� and we will run faster into our tomorrows."

-- excerpted from The Anatomy of Man, by Gregory Kull.

then / now