body mod

[joel]

He’d had his body modified from infancy—
his advent’s circumcision scar,
a covenant with life’s own need to change
in order to be faithful to its goal:
to be alive, to stay alive, to be.
His grown-up piercings complement the cut.
“The cleanest slates we write upon all fail
to keep from being modified,” says shale.
I could have been a god if I were what
you are; at least have tried humanity.
Instead I tried myself: I tried a fool.
But if a crucifix can rearrange
the history of love, then cut and marble—
modify— the life my life has been.

[Arcadia]

Instead I tried myself: I tried a fool