from The Uses of The Body by Deborah Landau

from The Uses of The Body

Before you have kids,

you get a dog.

Then when you get a baby,

you wait for the dog to die.

When the dog dies,

it’s a relief.

When your babies aren’t babies,

you want a dog again.

The uses of the body,

you see where they end.

But we are only in the middle,

only mid-way.

The organs growing older in their plush pockets

ticking toward the wearing out.

We are here and soon won’t be

(despite the cozy bed stuffed dog pillows books clock).

The boy with his socks on and pajamas.

A series of accidental collisions.

Pressure in the chest. Everyone breathing

for now, in and out, all night.

These sad things, they have to be.

I go into the kitchen thinking to sweeten myself.

Boiled eggs won’t do a thing.

Oysters. Lysol. Peanut butter. Gin.

Big babyface, getting fed.

I am twenty. I am thirty. I am forty years old.

A friend said Listen,

you have to try to calm down.