Body

A poem

Many of us spend our entire lives Avoiding the dirt Avoiding the earth

Sticking to the sidewalks Staying indoors Places of manufactured temperature

Places of protection from the elements Elevators, stairs, floors and windows For good reason

I know, I do, I cannot judge It just hit me We build and go up and up and up

And away To get away from The thing that will truly own us in the end

The thing that will surround the body of us We don’t identify with the body Our spirits soar to the clouds in planes in spaceships

We do not want to get physical In the most real sense of the word Pain of any kind is to be fought off with meds and quick

Aging is supposed to be covered with colors and lifts We try to exist above and outside But we are this body

We are this earth We are the ground We are the dirt

Everyone’s God said so Ashes to ashes, we heard, we saw Real and not real it is hard to comprehend being just

This pillar Just this salt Just this hand or leg

We spend our whole lives dressing it up, messing it up Without ever taking the time to see it as us

Body of earth body of water body of land body of body body of us We can’t run away from it forever Or can we?

Jenny Justice is a mom, Sociology instructor, and writer. You can follow her on Medium and at Jenny Justice, Writer. She has been recognized as a Top Writer on Medium in Poetry, Parenting, Reading, Education, Books, Racism, Feminism and Climate Change, so far.