omphalos

I'm pretty sure that's a belly button on that pot.

Just sayin'.

O, Omphalos

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.