tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post1634012579560044045..comments2023-12-27T22:26:20.552-05:00Comments on synch-ro-ni-zing: Poem: The body elasticRuthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comBlogger38125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-37293240198997840742011-08-15T04:46:46.985-04:002011-08-15T04:46:46.985-04:00My former boss, Jerry, used to work for the simila...My former boss, Jerry, used to work for the similar Bodies exhibition out of Atlanta, Ruth. Interestingly, I first saw the exhibit in NYC a few years back. I'll never forget it. I can imagine you writing a poem about the experience...so beautifully!Ginnie Harthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14014434422568561157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-14781156715323340562011-08-12T07:09:48.149-04:002011-08-12T07:09:48.149-04:00Sorry, Terresa, I didn't mean to skip you.
I ...Sorry, <b>Terresa</b>, I didn't mean to skip you.<br /><br />I do hope you will go to this exhibit when it comes to you again, or in another city you might visit. I think you would find incredible inspiration, as I did. And we would all benefit from your rich response to it, I predict.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-83701183962407349112011-08-12T07:08:09.344-04:002011-08-12T07:08:09.344-04:00Hedge, thank you for reading, and rereading. There...<b>Hedge</b>, thank you for reading, and rereading. There is a loss, a risk, posting a poem about this exhibit, for those who have not experienced it. I wrote out of the deep movement I felt in response to it. I appreciate so much that you want to see his work as a result of my words.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-80927257542223753552011-08-12T07:06:15.058-04:002011-08-12T07:06:15.058-04:00Brendan, thanks so much for reading and responding...<b>Brendan</b>, thanks so much for reading and responding this way. I celebrate von Hagens for the great work of getting down to the surfaces that are harbored in these bodies of ours, isolating each piece, cable (great word here), each lacy system. Oh the nervous system is beautiful, one of the displays, with those cords like sea coral flowing down into the limbs from the spine.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-11447467441527600002011-08-12T07:02:45.309-04:002011-08-12T07:02:45.309-04:00Thanks, Marcie. I'm glad you've seen it, a...Thanks, <b>Marcie</b>. I'm glad you've seen it, and with your artist's eye appreciated the bodies, as the beauty they are.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-20353645385388953302011-08-12T07:01:49.234-04:002011-08-12T07:01:49.234-04:00erin, I don't know why we can't live compl...<b>erin</b>, I don't know why we can't live completely free, without reining in, but I know that I take pleasure in the tension between life and death, more so now than before, and that is partly thanks to you, and Rilke. I don't remember Sabine over the river.<br /><br />You seem fearless to me. Yet I do not think that it is fear that holds me back. I watch, I sit, and I am not very active. This is something I know, and sometimes I want to change.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-91837733390266804212011-08-11T17:22:16.459-04:002011-08-11T17:22:16.459-04:00At first read,I'm not sure I'm ready for t...At first read,I'm not sure I'm ready for that much baring of the soul's cage, that much nakedness. I look, though, a second time and do see the marvelous machines that we and all living things are,and it drives a barrage of thoughts about origins and purposes. Your words are if anything even more exact, more immediate, than the linked images. I doubt this exhibit will ever get to my benighted part of the world, but if it should, know your words will be the factor that has made me determined to see it.hedgewitchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13090696134322515899noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-36901568864797727382011-08-11T11:12:49.330-04:002011-08-11T11:12:49.330-04:00I'm so happy you found a cool glade out of the...I'm so happy you found a cool glade out of the beat of the Chicago sun -- a strangely plush and divine one, given that the statuary here are preserved cadavers in various stages of anatomical undress. Odd, too, that the coldest science hinges the most ecstatic art of all, celebrating nakedness for more than what it is. I wonder if this is how the angels see us -- stripped down to the barest cables of our souls. Loved it, loved it. The contrasts are exquisite, and the self-recognition is a bonus. - BrendanBrendanhttp://blueoran.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-86359746634093228252011-08-11T08:38:50.378-04:002011-08-11T08:38:50.378-04:00Such a powerful and evocative portrayal of your ex...Such a powerful and evocative portrayal of your experiences seeing the human body isolated and in still motion..and that of the 'real' world beyond. I've seen the exhibit..and - yes - it's definitely something worth seeing.Marciehttp://www.marciescudderphotography.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-35758952482759110972011-08-11T07:28:35.868-04:002011-08-11T07:28:35.868-04:00there's a deep irony in this, isn't there,...there's a deep irony in this, isn't there, ruth? that we want to live so badly and yet we are always held back, always, at least a shade, from feeling that we are living enough. and so we press and press and things might become dangerous in subtle ways and so death looms closer and it is in this hand in hand with death that life earns her poignancy. isn't it ironic? and i wonder in this, why? what is it in the construct that makes it ironic? perhaps it is only our misguided desire in society to hold life and death so far apart. perhaps if we allowed them free reign we would simply be. do you remember Sabine over the river? it is in her. how i long to be so passionately, how i long to be.<br /><br />xo<br />erinerinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16636371927224076866noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-72291841104213095482011-08-10T13:06:57.699-04:002011-08-10T13:06:57.699-04:00Bodies, The Exhibition, (a similiar show) has bee...Bodies, The Exhibition, (a similiar show) has been a show in my home town here for years. A friend of mine went, and urged me to go. As life is, I meant to, then forgot. <br /><br />Thanks, Ruth, for jogging my memory. And for sharing your experience so vividly. I'm nearly there in your words.*https://www.blogger.com/profile/06484208765656281917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-31563201779504298642011-08-10T06:27:58.773-04:002011-08-10T06:27:58.773-04:00Real human cadavers, eh? Wow! I'm not sure I c...Real human cadavers, eh? Wow! I'm not sure I could have been as objective if I wrote about them. On one level, it sort of grosses me out, but fascinates me at the same time. I imagine that a lot of people have the same kind of reaction. Of course, as always, you found the exact right voice. Maybe I should take a few of my loved ones to see the smoker's lungs. Think that would stop them....finally???Susanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14201860227400017841noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-31122696814255118372011-08-10T06:25:28.118-04:002011-08-10T06:25:28.118-04:00Hi, Letty! I didn't know about the show, so th...Hi, <b>Letty</b>! I didn't know about the show, so thanks. Yikes, that Bradbury sounds very creepy!Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-31364431357740569972011-08-10T06:24:33.727-04:002011-08-10T06:24:33.727-04:00Thanks and welcome, JAGDISH BALI.Thanks and welcome, <b>JAGDISH BALI</b>.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-42872131342177065422011-08-10T06:24:13.780-04:002011-08-10T06:24:13.780-04:00Thanks, Louise. There are so many directions I cou...Thanks, <b>Louise</b>. There are so many directions I could go writing after seeing this.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-54224018469360198462011-08-10T06:06:52.851-04:002011-08-10T06:06:52.851-04:00Thank you, Amy. Even though I was deeply moved by ...Thank you, <b>Amy</b>. Even though I was deeply moved by this work, I couldn't have written this differently, though maybe someone else could. It might be interesting to try it with a different voice. Perhaps from the perspective of one of the bodies, looking at these gaping spectators. It's one thing to donate your body to science (which I plan to do), where medical students will learn from this shell. But tourists, voyeurs, it's something to think about.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-79658555959212857502011-08-10T06:03:43.734-04:002011-08-10T06:03:43.734-04:00Oh thank you, Rick for such a lovely comment. Yes,...Oh thank you, <b>Rick</b> for such a lovely comment. Yes, the colors coming out, even the heat was OK, because I was alive, we all were. My growing grandbaby was alive in my daughter's womb. There were fetuses in the show, taken from an old exhibit in the museum. It's difficult to get your head around it, the lives lost. It's like I could get to the edge of it, but not quite plunge in.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-33997840348126033852011-08-10T06:01:21.620-04:002011-08-10T06:01:21.620-04:00Pat, so glad you saw it too. Thanks for reading an...<b>Pat</b>, so glad you saw it too. Thanks for reading and your nice comment. I was quite moved by this work. I haven't gotten through reflecting on it yet.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-58422319106907777722011-08-10T05:52:57.718-04:002011-08-10T05:52:57.718-04:00Reena, good to know you were drawn to it a second ...<b>Reena</b>, good to know you were drawn to it a second time. To think of the effort, time and work involved is just beyond me. He does consider them art as well, and signs a card by each one, as you know.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-72521312066469611622011-08-10T05:51:01.603-04:002011-08-10T05:51:01.603-04:00Thanks, ds. There is controversy a bit. I read an ...Thanks, <b>ds</b>. There is controversy a bit. I read an article in the Journal of Bioethics about it, mostly about preserving the dignity of the individual, which von Hagens does, I think. Also, the writer wondered if there might be less expensive and 'entertaining' ways to educate people about health. I, though, found it incredibly moving. And something inside me shifted. If I were a smoker, seeing the lungs blackened by emphysema alone would have stopped me cold, and I'd have quit. Thank you for reading and liking my connection with Nike.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-27583054929178099822011-08-10T05:46:44.248-04:002011-08-10T05:46:44.248-04:00Thanks, Andressa. The swelter in Chicago on the we...Thanks, <b>Andressa</b>. The swelter in Chicago on the weekend was a beast.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-27293937318925202862011-08-10T05:27:51.166-04:002011-08-10T05:27:51.166-04:00Thanks, Friko. It's funny in a way that this p...Thanks, <b>Friko</b>. It's funny in a way that this piece is so objective, after I felt utterly opened and alive after seeing the exhibit. But as you and others say, maybe it would have been hard, or unnecessary, or unwarranted to write it a different way.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-38942043957422193232011-08-10T05:25:38.712-04:002011-08-10T05:25:38.712-04:00Shari, I had heard about it years ago, when he fir...<b>Shari</b>, I had heard about it years ago, when he first began, remembering a controversy, something about the donors not being donors. But everyone in the exhibit did donate their remains. Maybe you can see it one day. It is not gruesome in the least, at least to me.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-43803983970865762992011-08-10T05:23:03.195-04:002011-08-10T05:23:03.195-04:00erin, there is a distance that happens between the...<b>erin</b>, there is a distance that happens between the observer and the cadaver in this exhibit. I had to keep reminding myself that 'this was a person.' And yes, there is a box to check for donation. His primary purpose is education, he says, and all four of us were so inspired at the end, before we even walked out of the last room we stood talking about how we were going to change our lifestyles. To see inside what makes us move, feel, and function is a sobering thing, and I am incredibly grateful for the wake-up. And it's not that I'm not ready to die (though I'm not, in some sense at least), it's just that I want to live.Ruthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14204074161539605133noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21312708.post-76909750578507118262011-08-10T03:13:52.619-04:002011-08-10T03:13:52.619-04:00We have a copy of his tv show Anatomy for Beginner...We have a copy of his tv show Anatomy for Beginners sitting in our bookcase - Vince loved that show.<br /><br />But they disturb me on a very deep level - I think it's coz when I was an adolescent I read a story by Ray Bradbury about a person's skeleton turning on it's "owner" - I've never been the same!freefallinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08863000229609701796noreply@blogger.com