"When a human embryo is seven weeks old, / the brain shines through its forehead, a cloud / of light, belly-deep and breathing, / the whole, luminous mass cabled and alone."
— Witt, Sam (b. 1970)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
Cleveland
Publisher
Cleveland State University Poetry Center
Date
2007
Metaphor
"When a human embryo is seven weeks old, / the brain shines through its forehead, a cloud / of light, belly-deep and breathing, / the whole, luminous mass cabled and alone."
Metaphor in Context
I can't believe how still they are.
One antenna tentative and sweeping, how slowly
they turn towards me, opening,
pulsing now, stirring the dried shell
of a yellow jacket. When one leg lifts
and rubs across another. I'm holding my breath.
Then, at last, the warbling call cracks,
draws itself out, a single breath
in my room. I put out the light, lie back,
I slowly draw one leg across the other.
When a human embryo is seven weeks old,
the brain shines through its forehead, a cloud
of light, belly-deep and breathing,
the whole, luminous mass cabled and alone.
(ll. 15-28, p. 11)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
Witt, Sam. Sunflower Brother. Cleveland: Cleveland State University Poetry Center, 2007.
Date of Entry
04/09/2009
