A study in anatomy
If you believe humans have shrunk through history,
that the giant in our troupe is a throwback to an age
of towering heroes, what does that make me?
A creature of the future? An advanced stage
of human development? It gets a laugh. I play
the trumpet with my feet, embroider with my toes.
The crowd gawps in wonder. I tell them, one day
people with limbs will be on display in freak shows.
At one time a heifer with two heads was the star turn
on the bill – both mouths chewing cud. She died
of colic. Now a monkey fills the top position.
He resembles me in size, which attracts the odd snide
remark. Not that I care. If we’re talking similarity,
I’ve seen many a looker-on scratching at his balls.
That jaw cracking a nut, that stooped frame, free-
hanging arms – who’s aping who? They’re animals.
Earlier I had tea with the acquisitive Mr Hunter.
‘Living things have a tendency,’ he said, ‘to deformity.’
He wants my twisted carcass, this connoisseur
of oddities. He talked about ‘variation’ and why
there are so many living creatures. That’s heresy
I told him. He smiled complacently. I like his proposition.
It would be something to help in a future discovery.
Twenty pounds cash. I have no love for this skeleton.
Simon Collings lives in Oxford, UK. He has published both poetry and short fiction. For more information see http://simoncollings.wordpress.com/