Bronka Nowicka
Body and Related Matters
from Codex of the Insane
Translated from Polish by Katarzyna Szuster-Tardi
RIBS
These bones keep asking for themselves. So the foreman spoils his work, urged by the ribbing. He hides the arches in the flesh because he’s ashamed, but they continue to stick out miserably. Then he apologizes for the poverty with a cathedral.
BLOODSTREAM
It’s a thankless job that will make you sad. You’ll have to lock the red in a maze. Circling it, it won’t know its color. It will be dark to itself. Always alone. But only like this will it make sense of its own course.
EYE
Soak a ball of cotton flower in water. You can obtain a decent eye from this alone. As long as it works for a tender wound treatment, keep it as a good one. If it can only see––throw it away.
MOUTH
Dig out the mouth in the flesh. Pour milk into that pit. If the liquid soaks in, it means they have taken hold. Check to see if a red worm has moved in. If it has, tether it to the burrow so it does not leave farther than the edge. Stimulate the nematode to move every day. If it appears lazy, you have made a maw. But when the worm begins to wiggle and the hole speaks, you have made a human mouth.
WHISPER
Wrap the speaking voice in velvet in which you have hidden a leaf of cellophane. Pass the bundle through a narrow crevice.
WORD
Speech is like food. It has content. It can sustain like sugar or burn like pepper. It poisons or nourishes. Therefore, make your words so that, when passed from mouth to mouth, they are like fresh fish, tart apples, honey.
SYNTAX
Precede the art of word merging with the practice of touch. Before saying “soft fur,” let your hand linger on a dog’s head.
POEM
Sew a belly. Put an embryo in it––a furl of blank paper. Tie the pregnancy with straps and carry it. Rock it while walking around. When you feel it’s time, squat down and push. In the crack, the head will flash, the wrinkled paperette. Hold the puppet with the mark of the handwriting. Read the firstborn poem from its forehead.
LIBRARY
In ancient book collections, volumes were people, and reading was touching. Maps of lands, waters, and constellations were learned from skins. Foreign languages were poured straight into mouths. When creating a library, take that sensuality. Build it from the remains of old practices: stroking pages, whispering in silence.