The Body is a Glorified Hotel
The body is a glorified hotel —
A mass of straining, struggling,
Yet stalwart muscle,
Connected epidermal islands,
Fiery planets of unexplored sensations,
A confounding, often confused internal cosmos
Guided by the searing stars of instinct, faith,
Hope, fear, and imagination —
We are forced to facilitate, vacate
By the all-seing, almighty
God of expectation, time
By society’s forced worship
At the bloodstained altar of material gain,
Its hivelike mentality,
Its machinelike ability
To make us forever stand in service,
Warehousemen at the assembly line,
Of producing the same bland, generic
Culturally acceptable product
For as long as this hotel
Is in our name.
The body is a glorified hotel —
Roof slumping, insecure, shaking
By the gale force winds
Of the irritated, swollen sting.
The punching fist of judgement
Towards the curve of the mouth,
The gleam in the eyes,
The hue of the skin,
The gender, abilities
Of the singular building,
Our body, our flesh,
In which we are sole inhabitant,
The singular palace in which we are born.
Though the walls are frequently claustrophobic, confining
And the constant familiarity of our own company
Is simultaneously too much and too little,
Too routine and too alien,
This glorified hotel, our body, our flesh,
Is our shelter, perfect imperfections and all,
For which we are custodian, defender, builder,
Occupant, owner, manager,
The beacon, the light keeper, all.
We are the carpenter, architect.
The interior blueprint designs are uniquely,
Beautifully our own,
In this body, glorified hotel
Planted proudly in the soil of self:
A glorious, gaudy construction
That we should be able to
Freely decorate, illuminate,
Facilitate, commemorate —
A glorious, gaudy construction
Which we should be happy
To liberate, dwell
Past the horizons of sight, sound,
The physical plane,
Into the aftermath of memory,
The aftermath of grit, grain, pain,
The aftermath of now.
Andrew Buckner is a multi-award-winning filmmaker and screenwriter. A noted poet, author, actor, critic, and experimental musician, he runs and writes for the review site AWordofDreams.com.