Loss of Normal Human Anatomy , Human Enhancement: Two Poems

Visiting Ojai California today (recognized as an art colony and because of its hidden lush mountain valley geography, a "Shangri-La"), I visited the Ojai Center for the Arts and picked up a copy of *Rivertalk 2003". The booklet contains a number of poems by local folks who enjoy to write poetry. The booklet is published each year and is supported by the Ojai Center for the Arts and Edward C. Raymund. Opening "Rivertalk" I found two poems which say something special about the context of two recent threads on this blog: loss of normal human anatomy and human enhancement. I am reproducing them below for the consideration of my visitors. I would like to read how you interpret these two poems and what the poet's words mean to you in those contexts. This thread is going to be about these poems. (Please go to the appropriate threads elsewhere to write any comments about the subjects in general. Comments on this thread are only to be related to the poems themselves and their meaning to you.)

By the way, there is a developing interest in art and literature courses in medical schools thoughout the U.S. Students practicing interpretation of works of art and literature is felt to build skills useful in discernment of critical features of disease which can lead to more accurate diagnostic conclusions. ..Maurice.

And now to the poems:

A GREAT SORROW

Wild Woman is missing
her belly button today


maybe she lost it last night
when she had that dream
wondering how she was to dress
what costume she was supposed to wear
for the parade< >both the parade
and the missing belly button a puzzle

or maybe it fell off in the afternoon
when another part of her body
was disconnected
and her belly bore no visible mark
of its beginning

how could she find it?
could she put it back where it belonged
make it feel at home again?

not having a belly button
made her feel like a drum
without its beat< >the silence
inside her so empty
not even an echo whispered


---Bettina T. Barrett



AGE SEVENTY-FIVE

comes with a
third arm.
This is for comfort
and convenience,
a little extra
something tucked away,
so that when it rains
one can use it as a sort of
windshield wiper,
to sparkle and alert
possible lacklusterness -
quite definitely not
au fait -

I am thinking about
having mine
in the middle of my forehead
sort of a third eye
with an extension,
and a compass at the end
this way I will always
know where I am going
where the sea is and
what direction
that very large elephant
on the horizon is taking.
I can also direct traffic
in an emergency.

My third arm
will be great
for shaking hands, waving
while walking dogs on leads,
will bestow on me
status, focus, insight.
It will also be
a great conversation piece.
People will always be asking me
where I got my hat.

---Audrey Hargraves