BRUISED MEAT // BEAUTIFUL IN THE LIGHT / SARA VALENTINE

Bruised Meat // Beautiful in the Light

WORDS SARA VALENTINE

God created Eve from Adam’s rib and Cain broke Abel’s body over a stone. We brush up against each other as we come together and as we fall apart. Creation is often more violent than you know.

Go on and lay your head down on that bruised apple He calls a chest. Listen to the vibrations as he talks.You can peel away the waxy skin if you like. Long spirals of Red Delicious hit the floor and it will not bring you any closer. It will never bring you closer, Not in the way you want, the way you desire. If you trace the frame long enough they say it will become muscle memory– If your hands sink into the flesh, Do Not Be Afraid.

There is a core to everything. Please forgive me for trying to become your worm.

Always it begins with a head on a chest. Laying down on that bruised apple he calls a home. The thought begins to take shape—

A slow stirring of something (a serpent?) waking up. You can play Operation here a little while longer. Feel around. Take it in. I give you my permission. Take a rib or two with you when you go. There is no room for you in another body, but you can carve out a temporary lodging if you like.

On the first day, there was Light. Actually, there was darkness and then there was Light. This order is not important. Before the Light there was Very little (we call it “Nothing”) And so there was Nothing for the Light to expose.

You should know that if I turn on the light tonight, I do not care what it might find on our bed.

What if you just Slipped?

Only a little– It’s an easy mistake to make, fingernails trailing and slicing and peeling. You could even call it an accident, if you like. You could reach down and pull and stretch and tug on any strings that you find. You have my permission. Twist their tendons through those slender fingers, And never mind the knowledge that you have gone bad

I mean, really, truly rotten. You have been growing inside of me from the beginning. Let us not forget that even rot desires life.

Digging through that body you found will only get more blood beneath your nails.