a found poem
The umbilicus serves
then withdraws
leaving but a single
footprint
where it stood
The navel, wrinkled
and cupped
whorled and domed
blind and winking
bald and tufted
sweaty and powdered
kissed and bitten
waxed and fuzzy
bejeweled and ignored
Reflecting as graphically
as breasts
seeds
or fetishes
the omnipotent fertility
in which Nature dangles
her muddy feet
The navel looks in
like a plugged keyhole
on the center of our being
It is true but
O navel
though we salute
your motionless
maternity and the
dreams
That have got tangled
in your lint
You are only a scar
after all.
Found in Tom Robbins' Even Cowgirls Get the Blues. Chapter One, Page One.
3 comments:
I was reading this wondering if the lint factor would come up. Quite frankly I think the bb acting as a lint catcher is quite fascinating. I marvel at its ability to do so at least once a week. I even wear courduroy purposely to pollinate the area.
I told my wife just a couple weeks ago that I was going to start saving it and try to make something once I had enough. Suffice it to say that she was not amused.
I actually knew a woman in Baton Rouge who harvested dryer lint and did use it for crafts. But that's a bumper crop in comparison.
Both my wife and my son have outties and will never ever enjoy the wonder of the lint. And that's sad.
I shouldn't tell this story, but once my sister -- who has a deep innie -- produced something absolutely primeval out of her belly button. we were kids then, and the event caused great fascination (all four of us were witnesses to it). it was a combination of flesh and lint and history. and smelled something foul.
right. like I said: shouldn't have told that story. (my sister's certain to hate me for it.) but mystery isn't always pretty.
how do innies and outies form, I wonder? does it have more to do with how the doctor ties the umbilicus off? or are some of us fated to innies and others to outies?
I'm inclined to believe it has more to do with the snip-and-tie than genetics. But who knows.
I do know about that smell. Me thinks if it's a deep one it harbors things that ferment or something.
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