everyone was a long time in a womb
what was it like there?
was there mathematics yes
geometry, trigonometry yes
differential calculus yes
the movement of the water taught us math
our own growth was teaching us the progressions
the placenta taught us kindness the attentive
tree
the placenta taught us listening & the companion's face
uterus taught us room & house
the membrane taught us window
cervix taught us door
if the penis visited it taught us to knock
oviducts taught us small corridors, ante-rooms, outhouses
cell by cell taught us city
our hands in front of our faces taught us elephants & dogs on
leashes
the cord taught us snake
the cord taught us stem we were the plant or
its shadow
substances through the cord taught us drugs
the body around us taught us hugging
the body around us taught us all the directions & up & down:
it taught us the cube of location
womb and its oviducts taught us to feel for horned animals
labour taught us sternness it brought itself
to bear
coming out taught us diving falling
hallucination
coming out taught us doubt
the stupidity of those who met us taught us fear & loneliness
the ignorance of those who met us taught us to be strangers
the joy & ignorance of those who met us taught us
the hurry of those who met us made us forget
-- guessing to remember
the cord taught river
the growth of the bloodstreams taught us watercourse geology
the growth of the nerve net taught us learning
it sent back its advances
the body around us taught us hills & mountains
amnion taught us sky
the stars themselves taught us stars they were
always felt
the sun taught us itself
the moon taught us itself but the placenta taught it too
the sun taught radiance & thus optics & thus
logic
the sun taught us straight lines pressure & penetration
the moon taught us swelling-toward & thus wanting
the stars taught us straight lines, convergence
the water taught us curves
our hands in the water taught us fish
our feet were quick-moving
coming out taught us weather
coming through taught us fire
the air in our lungs combusted them
the smell in the air was assault
forgetting makes us interested in dreams we
think the dream is in us like a baby
forgetting makes us want to believe in ghosts
forgetting taught us suicide: forgetting again (to remember)
forgetting makes us tell stories
the water taught us ocean but it was coming out taught us
abyss
from one cell to two to four cells we learned engineering
our growth taught us the eons
coming out taught us zero
implantation taught us earth seeding & burial
fertilization taught us the sequence for romance -- taught us
to lie down together and exchange knowledge through from belly to
belly
the water taught us tears
placenta & water together taught the mother
rough catching taught the other
the movement of the water taught thinking
sound coming through the water taught words to ride on thinking
it is not that we come from the Mother : there is no mother until
we are born
we come equally from the two travelers in a landscape
they teach us mother & father but they are not
the one teaches moving slowly with many provisions,
the other teaches moving fast
what they do when they join is marriage there
is a different marriage in every child
is there any teaching before they meet? i don't
know
when they join they teach joining
it is not that we come from the Mother : the
mother is one of those who meet us
she teaches resemblance metaphor she
is something like ..
from each of the travelers we learn arriving
from coming out we learn dying
from coming out we learn coming
from coming out we learn the flower
from the way we fall we learn fruit & vegetables
from labour we learn massage massacre
mass
from labour we learn violence and war excitement
from the light in the body we love twilight
from the legs we fall through we learn post & beam construction
at the perineum we learn lintel limen
limit
it threshes and it holds
coming out taught us abandoning our beloved
coming out teaches us being abandoned
all along we are learning space
loss & increase are teaching us time
what we are before we are born teaches us universe
what we are after we are born teaches us what?