True, I have always been happy that all the things that are inside the body are inside the body, and that all things outside the body, are out I'm glad to find my lungs on the inside of my chest, for example; if they were outside, they'd keep getting in the way, those two great incipient angel wings; besides, it would be messy I mean, how would it be if your reached out to shake someone's hand and there, in the palm, were a kidney and a liver complete with spleen? Can you imagine standing at 5 PM in a crowded subway car full of empty stomachs? What if a nice, nearsighted old lady were knitting socks and suddenly her veins fell out? How would she avoid creating a substance full of strangeness and pain? To the barefoot country boy sitting on the edge of the bed in the morning and opening Aunt Minnie's gift box, the sight of those socks would be what he'd call "a real eye-opener!" And what if our voices touched? If our mouths went out, instead of in? If you were inside of me; or, at least, if I were inside of you?
From Sky, published by Wesleyan University Press, 1970. Copyright © 1970 by Michael Benedikt. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of the author.