"I Talk to My Body"

This was a very interesting poem because it is a good example of what we talked about in class with regards to her "out of body" imagery in her poems. In the first stanza, she says, "My body, you are an animal/ whose appropriate behavior/ is concentration and discipline." I thought this was an interesting analogy because the reference to an animal is almost savage and untrained, yet she still remains disciplined. This could be referring to the primal urges that she faces and blocks throughout her life. The second stanza sets up a dichotomy between mind and body, where she will be removed from her body physically and mentally/spiritually. The reference to "a cosmic ship to Jupiter" could indicate that she understands the complexities between what her mind thinks and how her body acts out those thoughts. Understanding this relationship is as big of a task as comprehending the depth of space and the planets.

In the third stanza, she says, "My body, you are an animal...". This helps us understand the animal reference in the first stanza. Here, she is saying that without her mind and the ability of the mind to control the actions of the body, her animal instincts concentrated in her body would come through. The last two lines say, "Splendid possibilities/ are open to us". This shows that she is optimistic about the ability of humans to control their animal instincts in order to reach a higher level of discipline and concentration.