It Takes Practice Not To Die by Elizabeth Bartlett

ILLSUTRATED

HOMO ELASTICUS

I tell you it is inside,
a substance no one has yet identified
or described
as something natural to flesh,
a glutinous secretion in the cells
that can harden and melt.

Milky, it clings to the gums
with a stickiness that fastens on the tongue
to be dumb,
or else stretches and winds a band
around the heart so tight, it has to snap
or loosen, springing back.
Fluid, it waxes the bones

to ease their impact and recoil as they bounce
over stones,
except when the latex thickens,
becomes too crude, more fat than resin,
and freezes in the sun.