A Question of Anatomy

What are we made of, really?

I am made of blood

And my blood-

My blood is a motley crew of molecules who together

Run red

Like rubies on the diadem of a queen.

My blood is made of cells,

The cells of atoms,

And the atoms, the elements:

Letters.

And if letters make up words

And if letters make up my blood

Am I not, then,

By transitive property,

Made of words?

Do I not have epics, classics

Coursing through my veins

Keeping me alive? 

I think I do.

I think I was born from the soft words

Spoken between a man and a woman

A thousand years ago.

I think they spoke of love

And forgiveness

And kindness and compassion.

I believe the strength of their words

Gave life to me-

I will forever have them

Etched 

Into 

My insides.

I am a child of the words,

And I will die only when

The words are spoken.

Reviews

[Emily Rose]

Stunning.

[Emma Keynes]

One part I really liked was the comparison of blood molecules to "rubies on the diadem of a queen." The only thing I would change is that I would make that line active instead of passive ("rubies on a queen's diadem"). To me, that change would make the picture of the comparison more clear and vivid.

Nice job.

[rubie]

The desire to write is quite strong in me sometimes. Something begins, subtly, glints unexpectedly in sun or shadow, and then, infallibly, whole chains of words begin to assemble themselves inside my fingers; I can feel them, swelling and joining up, itching just below the skin. They begin to occupy my head, too, to the point I find myself muttering. My point here is that writing is as much a part of me (when this phenomenon occurs) as my blood. This is what your poem said to me. Writers cannot divorce themselves from this power of words any more than they can drain they bodies of blood. The words are our life force....

Beautiful write.

[Oceana]

Excellently put, thank you so much for your review!

[Angi]

Sometimes, the urge to write is very strong. I cannot focus on the task at hand when letters start forming words that start forming ideas and etc, etc, etc. I have scraps of paper all over the place with phrases and ideas scribbled. I think letters spilling from my veins is not that far off when this urge comes upon me!

[Oceana]

Yep, I feel you there, Angi. When I wrote this I sent my best friend a text at 3 am saying, "I hate writing. I never asked for this. I don't want to be awake at 3 during finals week." Of course, this was an exaggeration, I love writing and I'm so thankful I've been blessed with the opportunity to do it, but I really believe that text signifies just how difficult it is to escape it. A blessing and a curse (mostly a blessing).

[Firefly]

Thouroughly enjoyed this, very well done!

[ChemicalMadness]

I quite like the concept. Who amongst us would be alive, were it not the words which precipitated the acts of our creation? There is a softness to your flow here, woven throughout, which was almost soothing. Nice work!

CM

[Oceana]

Thank you very much, you're so kind to me and my works

[jacob erin-cilberto]

and i had a second thought...if poets donated their bodies to science...did you ever see the film "gross anatomy"?

i saw that here...a group of students opening up the cadaver, and finding words...and there was still a flow of them, even long after this poet had died.

[Oceana]

No, I've never heard of it, but it sounds absolutely incredible. I'll have to check it out. Thanks again!

[ChemicalMadness]

Good flic!

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i like the "transitive property" idea.
we are not intransitive...we are subjects who spew verbs with purpose...there is and are objects to our writing...and the words are in our blood...from the beginning, passed down, we somehow inherit that ability to write, that need to write...words are in our blood but they also make our blood flow..
two things make mine do that and make me feel alive...teaching and writing..without those i would be like someone who had an encounter with a vampire...and my life would be lethargic at best.

so well worded...and "diadem" ah love that..so Dickinson-ish.

[Oceana]

Thank you so much, this is very thoughtful. As for the use of the word "diadem," when I was fourteen I had a word-a-day calendar, and every day I would peel the word off and hang it up on my wall. I was laying in bed the other night (thinking thoughts which led to this poem) and the word diadem (one of the only two words from that calendar I remembered, the other being eleemosynary), popped out at me, and I automatically knew I had to put it in my poem.

Thanks again, so much!

[Denham Cole]

The concept is a real stretch. That the elements are letters and they are what's in your blood just makes me think of something as trivial as alphabet soup

[Oceana]

Hmm, interesting thought.