Damaged Body, by HAL SIROWITZ

Don’t swim in the ocean while it’s raining,

Mother said. Lightning can hit the water,

& you’ll be paralyzed. You don’t like

to eat vegetables. Imagine having

to spend the rest of your life being one.

Someone will have to wash you,

take you to the bathroom, & feed you.

Children will tease you. But

you may be lucky, & get struck

by only a small voltage. Then you’ll be

a smart vegetable, like an asparagus.

You’ll be able to make your bed by yourself--

which you don’t do now--but people

will feel too sorry for you to talk to you.

You may think it’ll be fun to vegetate

around the house all day. But

every time you’ll think about yourself,

like wouldn’t it be nice to eat a chocolate ice cream

cone,

the thought will flicker, & then go out.

From “Mother Said (poems)” by Hal Sirowitz. (Crown: $15; 128 pp.)

Copyright 1996 Reprinted by permission.