Flesh as a Sieve

This week I’m reminding myself to accept flow as an inherent part of human nature. Newsletter subscriber Teddy Hamstra shared this Anne Carson poem recently; it’s called “God’s List of Liquids.”

It was a November night of wind.

Leaves tore past the window.

God had the book of life open at PLEASURE

and was holding the pages down with one hand

because of the wind from the door.

For I made their flesh as a sieve

wrote God at the top of the page

and then listed in order:

Alcohol

Blood

Gratitude

Memory

Semen

Song

Tears

Time.

Carson’s words reminded me of this striking photo of a human heart stripped of all fat and muscle. Our hearts mirror the root systems of plants - not separate from nature but built from it. That root system inside our hearts acts as a sieve through which all of our liquids and feelings and thoughts and experiences flow.