Locomotion, Cures for common ailments, Such a malcontent, Misalignment, The leg fits into the foot & When did a wall
by Linda Black
[ poetry - august 07 ]
Locomotion
Only degenerate animals are sedentary or parasitic. One is apt to consider worms as rather sluggish. Their ability to withdraw into their burrows with amazing rapidity (violent movements called escape movements) makes it necessary to be very quick in one's attempt to catch them. For general purposes, earthworms are best immersed in 30% or 50% spirit until they are dead.
Cures for common ailments
A poultice of crumb of bread seeped in vinegar will cure a new corn in one night. A little plaster of Paris damped in paste will answer the same purpose, as will a small circle, pierced in the centre, of agaric or touchwood (from the touchwood tree). Crushed leaves of bindweed applied to styes are very efficacious. Many people use little sticks of butter or cocoa as a cosmetic. If a little cocaine is added and a sting rubbed with the stick, it will procure immediate relief. Hay fever (what an infliction!) is an indisposition that concerns us, for it makes the sufferer look ugly and almost ridiculous. No beauty can withstand it. It should be struggled against from the beginning. Once the evil of an in-growing toenail is there, the question is how to cure it. Wet the whole foot. Apply a solution of gutta-percha (80 parts) and chloroform (10 parts). The flesh is thus rendered hard and insensitive.
Such a malcontent
I'm thinking habitual. (I'm writing in the sky right now - a thin attempt to break free.) Habit: (rhymes with rabbit). Ingrained. Over and over. A long, loose garment not easy to get rid of. Habitual - a giving up - or an inability to, very different from 'regular' or 'periodic'. To inhabit - home, mind, body (the latter one can despise, lament or nurture.) She had habituated the chimps to humans. Habitat, habitation (signs of): one's nest, full of life's trappings, one's place of rest.
Misalignment
Daily he drags closed the doors that do not shut, the old man with the arched back, ties string around handles, hammers flat protruding nails. He angles his closed eyes downward towards his navel. He can't get his words to match his thoughts. In the box-room, he begs for clemency.
The leg fits into the foot
And not the foot into the leg. The toe must not be allowed to drop into a downward position. A rough knee joint will very quickly wear a hole in the trouser. The shoulder joint may need some explanation. Movement of the head can be got by rocking - up one end, down the other. As time goes by you will discover new movements and forms of expression. Only a fringe of hair is attached to the head. Garments are not made to come off and on.
When did a wall
Become not enough? Tapestries, hangings, lime-wash, distemper, straight onto a porous surface; the introduction of colour - a base and a pigment. Work the paint down and across, spreading out from the centre in squares like a giant chess board so the edges of one square blend with the edges of the next. Paint that is poorly applied eventually flakes. Can you blame this whoever-it-was for rushing the job? - perhaps they'd better things to do or it's just not in their make up; the sort who'd throw food on a plate, cabbage half on, half off.
