Look! How I defy the laws
of solids, unhinging myself, ladling
my shoulders onto the floor.

I crunch myself into a ball
to feed your daily need for miracles,
then unfold my limbs like a flower.

Rearranged to the point
of extinction, I preside over all
you dream of escaping.

Richard Waring

Czech Contortionist by Richard Waring was published in The Comstock Review.

Richard Waring's poems have appeared in The Comstock Review, Sanctuary, Mothering, The Boston Globe, Phone-A-Poem, and elsewhere. His chapbook, "Listening to Stones," was brought out by Pudding House Publications in 1999. He lives in Belmont, Mass., with his son and daughter.