Path 11: External
The healing we do outside ourselves
A mirror eliminates the inconvenience
of the eyes’ positions
rotated to look outside boney holes.
There I am
skin covering muscle, bone, and adipose tissue
ducts and tendons and other rather temporary entities.
Injuries I have sustained and repaired with time.
There I am, outside the mirror this time.
A house, or an apartment
the others I dance with
the person and/or people I have loved
the smog that hangs overhead
or the wind that gently clears the air.
There I am,
The cigarettes I’ve smoked and passed on
the ripened fruits I’ve consumed on a balcony
the pills I’ve swallowed with a swig of water
the external poisons I have endured as a price of living
I know what I said
about inconvenient eyes that can’t look at the face they are set in.
But I am in pieces
present in places
many miles away from my body.
The greater inconvenience is discovering
where.
About the Creator
Noah Rodriguez
A multiracial gay med student/writer and NYC native. I believe identity is something that is creatively built, discovered, shared, and transformed, and healing can come from that.
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More stories from Noah Rodriguez and writers in Poets and other communities.
A Dart at Dusk
Seconds ago, the sullen sun set on the two of us… my exuberant furry companion and me. A fresh breeze embraces us, delivering welcome relief from the day’s oppressive heat. His typical stumbling and staggering along — apace with a sloth — has turned into trip-trapping, high-stepping, almost skipping along.
By Angie the Archivist 📚🪶2 days ago in Petlife
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