ANATOMY OF AN ARMPIT

Between our arms and chest

lives a pyramid with four walls

and the unmistakable aroma

of our work.

The front wall is the pectorals –fins! 

Unlike whales who took refuge 

in the sea from land,

we evolved from fish who walked on the earth,

using fins for legs.

Now we breathe through the chest’s inside wall

through ribs like gills, 

the air, the sky being a fluid,

every arm-swing a swim.

The back wall is shoulder muscles – 

especially the widest muscle we have

travelling all the way down from the top of the arm

to the lowest backbone.

The inside wall is the famous biceps

that bends the elbow

and helps bring our hands

to shape our life through work.

We raise our arms up

to the sky,

maybe we are praying

or just letting joy ascend.

Suddenly we see

into the pyramid -

sometimes with hair inside!

Who cares?

We lift up,

reach up as if 

to get carried again.

“UP! UP!” the child cries.

Up up we go.

The pyramid opens,

aromas infuse the air,

the chest lifts,

the heart,

the breasts, the hopes.

We are here as 

we embrace the invisible above

and this world with lifted arms.