by Lorna Crozier
It’s excellent that the eyebrows
unknown to you, in several tiny gestures
speak to the eyes (neither’s lonely then),
excellent that the tongue, bored with silence, plays
Chopin-like concertos across the bottom teeth.
It’s excellent that everybody’s face has twenty-six muscles
to make a smile (Mona Lisa used half of that,
Hitler less). It’s excellent that human nostrils flare
as seemly as a hare’s coursing the wind lifting
from a hound’s smooth back. It’s excellent that
the ears, close to the heart, forget a lot.
Why else greet a familiar voice with openness
and joy, sucking in the air’s vibrations
even though the speaker’s been known
to bang and shout and bat them with an open hand.
— from Juniper Volume 1, Issue 1