The poetry of Bones

A gentle read today, it's sunny and not many people want to be looking at a screen for too long...

I want to share with you the bone meditation poems from an amazing book, Body, Space, Image, by M. Tufnell & C.Crickmay.
Gifted to me by a dear friend to whom I am eternally grateful for opening my eyes to this way of seeing.

 

I have brought this meditation poem to my classes with the intention to bring awareness to the movement and life in our bones, and yes they may be perceived as something not to be seen, we're not all surgeons after all, but not to be ignored or unappreciated.

My only concern here is getting a call for breaching copyright, but hey, I think its worth it!
HEAD
IS FULL OF OPENINGS
WINDOWS FOR THE SENSES

Openings of eye, ear, mouth, fontanelle,
In the jaw, under the eyes,
An opening at the base of the scull

LET THE EYES REST IN DEEP POOLS OF THE EYE SOCKETS
LET THE HEARING DEEPEN
SOFTEN THE TONGUE IN THE CAVE OF THE MOUTH

The head is made up of 29 bones, eight bones form the cranium and 14 bones make up the face. Most of our interaction with the world is mediated by the head – hearing, seeing, balancing, smelling, breathing, eating.
…
We tend to imagine the bones of the body as hard/inert, but all the bones, including the bones of the scull, are alive and changing. It is in the bones that the red blood cells are formed. The skeleton can renew itself over 20 months.

THE HEAD MOVES UP
THE BODY FOLLOWS

FEEL THE AIR AROUND THE BACK OF THE HEAD

LET THE BACK OF THE HEAD BE FULL
BALANCING THE FRONT OF THE FACE
LET THE JAW HANG EASY AS THE ARM

Eight bones make up the back of the head, fourteen bones make up the front of the face

LET THE BONES ONF THE SCULL OPEN
AND         MOVE        APART

LIGHT SHINES THROUGH

THE BONES OF THE SCULL MOVE
AS DO THE PLATES OF THE EARTH

LET THE SKULL HOLD THE BRAIN LIGHTLY

The head balances in the spine midway between the ears;
Eyes, nose and organs of balance are situated
Close to this meeting of head and spine.

BREATHE IN TO THE TIP OF THE SPINE

LET THE BREATH FILL THE INSIDE OF THE HEAD

SOFTENING THE BONES OF THE SCULL
BEHIND THE EYES, INSIDE THE JAW

THE HEAD ROUND AND SOFT

IMAGINE THE WHOLE HEAD
MELLEABLE TO THE BREATH

THE ROUNDNESS OF THE HEAD IS ECHOED
IN THE ROUNDNESS OF THE RIBCAGE,
OF THE PELVIS, OF THE HEELS,
OF THE ROOF OF THE MOUTH

SEE THE OPENING AT THE BASE OF THE SCULL
WHERE THE BRAIN ELONGATES
AND FLOWS DOWN
TO THE SACRUM

THE SACRUM MOVES DOWN
AS THE BACK OF THE HEAD FILLS
AND MOVES UP

THE HEAD LISTENS
TO THE BODY
THROUGH THE SPINE

Joyce McCown