Piercing

never been pierced
of ears,
much less navel, nose, nether parts,
lips, fore or aft.
Have no real body jewelry.  Bawdy jewelry?
Equally unlikely to succumb
to tattooing
to body branding,
don't really want something embedded in my skin,
don't really want to bring out something
presumably already there,
even if the pain is soothing.
I will evince a certain admiration
for the lady who,
over a three-year period,
endured a two-hundred "strike" project
including a pyramid with sun rays.
The technique is "slash and burn"-
one-second exposure to
white-hot metal
for lasting art scars
and a stencil's pattern.
Usually done on flatter, fleshier parts of the body.
Does that sound kosher?
Too late for me to have a hard-core rite of passage,
though I do admire the aborigines.

Lynn Veach Sadler

If you've any comments on her poem, Lynn Veach Sadler would be pleased to hear from you.