Thursday, October 21, 2010

Sterno- Burn

There is a dark-haired girl on the train
this morning reading and rambling off words
like sternocleidomastoid. I try and try
to remember the corresponding structure,

but all I can see is the yellow tinged skin
beneath the mandible. Your full nape always
so warm, so inviting. And when I marched
my lips up to yours, the uncontrollable shivers

you released always cornered my thoughts
in unprecedented displays of loving remorse.

Sterno cleido mastoid,

the unwavering truth of science's etymology ringing
in my mind, turning my head from left to right,

full circle understanding that we never said goodbye
and it is that paired muscle, a chiefly mammalian

feature of anatomy, that flexes my heart.

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