To Persuade A Lady carpe Diem Poem by Michael Benedikt

True, I have always been happy that all the things that are inside
the body are inside the body, and that all things outside
the body, are out

I'm glad to find my lungs on the inside of my chest, for example;
if they were outside, they'd keep getting in the way,
those two great incipient angel wings; besides,
it would be messy

I mean, how would it be if your reached out to shake someone's hand
and there, in the palm, were a kidney and a liver complete with
spleen?

Can you imagine standing at 5 PM in a crowded subway car full of
empty stomachs?

What if a nice, nearsighted old lady were knitting socks and suddenly
her veins fell out? How would she avoid creating a substance
full of strangeness and pain? To the barefoot country boy
sitting on the edge of the bed in the morning and opening
Aunt Minnie's gift box, the sight of those socks would be
what he'd call "a real eye-opener!"

And what if our voices touched? If our mouths went out, instead of in?

If you were inside of me; or, at least, if I were inside of you?