the body as passage

By Nathan C. Lipps

Excerpt from "Not Difficult but Simple."

Forgetting birds exist
outside this morning routine.
Apple blossoms wet without noticing.
Their lives not bound
by pleasure.

Tearing apart yesterday’s bread
with sudden hands. Running
each piece through leftover
bacon grease. Still hot.
The body cannot recall

the present. There is something
kind about hunger. How it feeds us.
Or doesn’t. Allowing us
to forget the source.