Anti-Matter Poem by Erica Jong

Anti-Matter

Rating: 3.2


I am not interested
in my body-
the part that stinks
& rots & brings forth
life,
the part that the ground
swallows,
death giving birth
to death-
all of life,
considered
from the body's
point of view,
is a downhill slide
& all our small
preservatives
& griefs
cannot reverse the trend.

All sensualists
turn puritan
at the end-
turning up lust's soil
& finding bones
beneath the rich volcanic
dirt.

Some sleep in shrouds
& some in coffins;
some swear off
procreation, others turn
vegetarian, or worse:
they live on air-
on sheer platonic meals
of pure ideas;
once gluttons of the flesh,
they now become
gourmets of the mind.
How to resist that
when the spacious earth
swallows her children
so insatiably,
when all our space-age gods
are grounded,
& only the moan of pleasure
or the rasp of pain
can ever satisfy
the body's appetite?

& yet my body,
in its dubious wisdom,
led to yours;
& you may
puzzle out
this mystery in your turn.
Choose mind, choose body,
choose to wed the two;
many have tried
but few have done the deed.

Through you, perhaps,
I may at last succeed.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Deluke Muwanigwa 14 November 2020

Great poem. Anti matter exists because there is never a vacuum. If there is matter anti matter is there to counter the anti matter. Interestingly the anti matter will need anti squared matter to counter balance. All leading to the god particle.

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Sandra Feldman 14 November 2020

There are some lines of the poem that are really good, but not enough of them of them, to really save it. Pity!

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Birgitta Abimbola Heikka 14 November 2020

Very nice poem. Enjoyed reading it.

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Edward Kofi Louis 14 November 2020

The flesh is for the earth! ! So, let us gain life with the spirit! Thanks for sharing this poem with us.

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Bill Cantrell 14 November 2020

How can this be anything but full marks? Brilliance coupled with uniqueness permeates every verse with a complexity of vanity’s and question, yet hidden carefully, the verses are tainted with hope, what a masterpiece of poetry! ! ! ! So rare on this site! ! Ful

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M S Newhadney 21 November 2020

There's a negative perspective about human being in this song except the last lines. Also, some compounds in it are appealing like gourmet of mind and rasp of pain.

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Khairul Ahsan 14 November 2020

'Choose mind, choose body, choose to wed the two; many have tried but few have done the deed. Through you, perhaps, I may at last succeed.' - Loved these concluding lines of the poem, as also the unique title of it.

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Khairul Ahsan 14 November 2020

I am surprised not to see any comment on this beautiful poem, published eight and a half years ago. 'all of life, considered from the body's point of view, is a downhill slide & all our small preservatives & griefs cannot reverse the trend.' - Loved this deep thought. Congratulations on the poem's selection as the 'Modern Poem of the Day'!

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Mahtab Bangalee 14 November 2020

yet my body, in its dubious wisdom, led to yours; & you may puzzle out this mystery in your turn. ......Through you, perhaps, I may at last succeed. //// interesting and penned thru philosophical way; good though awakening to read

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Dr Antony Theodore 14 November 2020

All sensualists turn puritan at the end- turning up 's soil & finding bones beneath the rich volcanic dirt. very poetic and full of moral thoughts. tony

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