Something borrowed

I recall hearing that newborn infants literally need to be touched. caressed, understand love through the touch—that it is the body that responds to the touch, that it is the body of the infant that knows the truth of the hand or cheek touching it. The poems in this manuscript chronicle in some small way the beginning of an understanding: that the physical body knows truth when it is presented and that the language of the body is palpably greedy and is ultimately the language of reality. The speakers in these poems try on the masks of many, borrowing personas, searching for any that fit well, any that make it easier to understand this language of survival.