"Rectangular People"
You can see it in the tension
that wires their shoulders, strains
to lift the intersecting knots
of clavicle and humerus, bends
the natural angles horizontal.
You can see it stiffen the easy clay
that wraps their bones.
It squares the rounded shoulders
above half-cocked arms, scaffolds
the flesh into tight, anxious ledges.
Great-winged burdens circle
in the eye and sky. Hawks
and vultures swoop down on our
open fences. For most, a shrug
can purge these dark invaders.
A glass of wine, an evening walk,
fling them back into the breeze –
but not for rectangular people.
As fences to the raven, their
horizontals beckon without end.
© 2006 Fred Longworth
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