Intimacy Regained

author’s note:

I’m on intimate terms with this valley.
           -- from True West by Sam Shepard


INTIMACY REGAINED

In the days of our beginning
we didn’t need a word for intimacy

because we had not yet lost contact
with the sharp blades of grass
snipping at our legs as we walked--
we heard the hive hum of the earth
when we lay down to rest.
We talked to the stars directly.

In the days of our beginning
we needed to stay in contact
with all life
in order to survive on this planet
but now, we must disconnect
in order to function
in the world we have created
for ourselves.

Despite early resistance
I learned to function

but as a result
my own hand eventually
seemed foreign to me:

all that good functioning
nearly killed me.

Fortunately, I had enough sense left
to feel my lack of feeling
and so, in desperation, I began
to fight for more life--

a battle without end:

after the sapping
of another functional day
my body and mind
may seem to lack
the energy to engage--
to engage and regain
a sense of intimacy

but distressed by the loss
I’ll summon enough spunk to fight--
enough to resurrect
the god inside.

© 2020, Michael R. Patton
Poet, Heal Thyself: poetry ebook