We have no choice in the bodies that hold us by Holly Amos

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend August 2, 2016   We have no choice in the bodies that hold us   Holly Amos

Thing of dirt and water and oxygen marked by thinking and reacting and a couch one may or may not be permitted to sleep on. He may not permit me to touch him or to take the bone from his mouth, but he does, and that’s a choice based on many factors, not the least of which is his own desire to let me do these things. How I could ever think or feel myself more deserving of a single thing than this being, whom I call by a name the same way my parents chose a name for me. The same way my genes went expressing themselves to make my face exactly my face. This isn’t special. Or this is special. But it’s one answer, the same, for us both.            Copyright © 2016 Holly Amos. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “I wrote this poem shortly after adopting a second dog, Husker. Husker was already an adult, already had lived with a family who inexplicably took him and his brother (who was euthanized for space issues, as far as I know) to Chicago Animal Care and Control. One night I was sitting on the couch with Husker who had fallen asleep, and I was struck by the deep unbearableness that his life had been so thoroughly dictated by someone other than himself.” —Holly Amos   Holly Amos is the author of Continual guidance of air (H_NGM_N Books, 2016). She is the editorial assistant for Poetry and lives in Chicago, Illinois.   Poetry by Amos   Continual guidance of air (H_NGM_N Books, 2016) "Watch the Film You Paid to See" by Todd Colby "The Book of Genesis" by Morgan Parker "That Everything’s Inevitable" by Katy Lederer Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038