What is the shape of your body?
Note: I have not slacked off! I’ve just had to take a break from this because of the day jobs. This question of Bhanu’s in The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers is one of my favorites. I wanted to write something really long and thoughtful, really drag it out but I just can’t be asked to think too hard on it right now. So, in the spirit of The Vertical Interrogation of Strangers, I present something slightly less edited/revised. Also, something very short.
The text:
5) What is the shape of your body?
The scrawling surface of a sentence on wet paper. The shape of your favorite word swirling in boiling water; stirred and poaching.
The act of poaching when cold air envelopes the space of my body and steam rises from my skin.
The air a rippling softness like a moist salamander.
The shape that pulls your hand into a gesture traced.
The shape that knees make when bent for hours; the shape that shoulders make when hunched for hours. The shape the eye makes while staring at the page for hours; the shape the hand makes, the shape the brain makes.
A hasty scratch in the fold of the riverbank. The tumble of stones and desperate breathing.
I love how gauzy and ephemeral this feels!