Poem for Thursday

Self-Exam
By Sharon Olds

They tell you it won't make much sense, at first,
you will have to learn the terrain. They tell you this
at thirty, and fifty, and some are late
beginners, at last lying down and walking
the old earth of the breasts—the small,
cobbled, plowed field of one,
with a listening walking, and then the other—
fingertip-stepping, divining, north
to south, east to west, sectioning
the little fallen hills, sweeping
for mines. And the matter feels primordial,
unimaginable—dense,
cystic, phthistic, each breast like the innards
of a cell, its contents shifting and changing,
streambed gravel under walking feet, it
seems almost unpicturable, not
immemorial, but nearly un-
memorizable, but one marches,
slowly, through grave or fatal danger,
or no danger, one feels around in the
two tack-room drawers, ribs and
knots like leather bridles and plaited
harnesses and bits and reins,
one runs one's hands through the mortal tackle
in a jumble, in the dark, indoors. Outside—
night, in which these glossy ones were
ridden to a froth of starlight, bareback.

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Things accomplished: Lunch with PerkyPaduan and discussion of most relevant details for her visit with Rosie, Cinnamon and Daisy in the coming weeks. Retrieval of prescriptions and purchase of final necessary toiletries. Dinner with parents and gift, from mother, of plastic cosmetic bag for aforementioned toiletries. Burning of data DVDs, Master & Commander: The Far Side of the World and The Pirates of Penzance. Loading of ebooks onto transportable external hard drive. Sorting and packing of camera and computer cables. Final laundry.

Things not accomplished: pretty much all the rest of my personal packing. My share of the loading of the van. Figuring out a big fat book I might want to read that weighs less than Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. Conversion of Second Doctor episodes from MP4 to MP3. Cleaning off of dining room table. Finding watermelon for PerkyPaduan. Calming down. Have some pretties:















We are departing some time around 3 p.m. after Paul works part of the day. Will hopefully be online from Ohio late in the evening while PerkyPaduan is online here with my cats!