1.Terrifying, the eruption of breath against your neck,warmth, moisture, the noise of an animal throatdesigned for surging inhalations;terrifying, the protrusion of the face,the coarse hair of the lips,the rolling eyes.
And this is the companion of our spirit?This is our image of beauty?
The old makers still use rennetfor their cheeses, insisting in tradition's waythat the best sustenance requires thiscruelty, coagulation,the clinging of the curd to itself,a sharp aciditybefore the soft and perfect bite.
Moving back from the origin, the mouth,we can see the context of the body entire,the slow magic of domesticity,the sorrel coat shining over muscle and vein,the palpable grace, the radiant heat,the capacity to vanish distance.
2.The poets taught me:find in your wanting the critical boneon which all else depends.Break it.Press your lips to the splintered edgeand enrich yourself with marrow.
My father taught me:leave the long bone to its purpose.Drink milk for hunger.Grow, and leave the body of wantingto growth. Let it run.Let it vanishinto the gentle amber hills. Thus conflicted,each day I examine the limbs of desirelike a buyer examines a horse.
Strong gait. Good teeth.
I alternate days, now cruelly breaking, now leavingthe beast to its semblance of peace;I am waiting for a bone that sustainsunfractured.