28.1     Shallow Canoe  

After prolonged sitting,
my toes become firmly gripped,
feet, tightly bound and cold;
legs, pricked by warm thorns;
thighs, sitting on warm coarse sand;
buttocks, drilled with screws,
forcing me to lie down in bed.

The Invisible Puppeteer
pulls my toes up,
curling them forward and backward;
lifts my feet up and down,
twisting them left and right;
bends my knees up,
and then drops them abruptly.
He lifts my head up from the neck
and drops it back onto the pillow—
the neck and shoulders stiffen.

Suddenly,
he pulls my head and toes up simultaneously,
curving my whole body up tensely,
making it into a shallow canoe.
Nerves keelhauled:
a flash of tight, cutting pain
travelling like lightning,
from neck to toes,
along the whole spine.

A few quick jerks—
for just a few seconds .
Then he loosens the pull—
the body relaxes
through my legs;
my feet uncurl;
my right foot is quiet.

Is the Invisible Puppeteer trying
to make a Pinocchio of me?
Or is he helping me
to loosen up my tense nerves?

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28.2   Rope Unwinding Itself

The invisible puppeteer dislikes me
sleeping on my right side,
when my right leg is bent
underneath a memory foam cushion
weighed down by my left leg.

He pulls the leg under the cushion,
releasing it from stiffness.
He jerks the leg on the cushion,
straightening it.

He twitches my body tenderly,
re-positioning my spine.

Ever so gently,
he aligns my neck and my spine;
adjusts my shoulders,
loosening them up.

My whole body relaxes,
uncurling
like a coil of rope
slowly unwinding itself.

Is the Invisible Puppeteer trying
to loosen up my knotted nerves,
helping my body to self-regulate?

.

The Invisible Puppeteer’s useful tricks.

A Tema-Canoe at  Anima Nipissing Lake – Temagami, Ontario, Canada.
By Robertbody at English Wikipedia. CC By 3.0 Unpoprted License. via-
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Canoes#/media/File:1998-10-tema-canoe.jpg

A Birch Bark Canoe. By Zeljko at Croatian Wikipedia. In public domain. via-   https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Birch_bark_canoes#/media/File:BirchBarkCanoe.jpg

A Yarn Hank and Yarn Ball. By Willow W.  CC BY 3.0 Unported License. via- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wool_yarn#/media/File:Yarn_hank_and_ball.png

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© 2015 K-KLokePhD