A Worm in Savasana, 2021
A Poem by Jacqueline Henry
An earthworm stretches out on the concrete and yawns, unaware of the crows pecking in the grass nearby, hunting for its kind of flesh. Does it hear their trilling? Smell their need? That beaked hunger? Or does it think that this moment of rest, above ground, in the expanse of a summer morning, with its blue sky and its moist sweetness is worth the risk? I am vigilant in my watching— from an old metal rocker, white paint peeling off its sleeves— blackbirds skirting my parents’ yard like chickens bobbing their heads looking for feed— while the worm, in its blood-red blueness, peels itself from the patio like Silly Putty, pebbled concrete imprinted on its skin. It looks around, and once again, lengthens. Why prostrate itself? Is it unaware of the beaks? Or, uncaring? Is this a self sacrifice or a suicide? It comes up out of the soil and into the bright, and yet shades itself from singeing, bathing under an old porous canopy my mother duct-taped to four poles. It must desire this life. It must believe in its body. In its instinct and reflex, in the regeneration of holy flesh and confident too, that it can be seen only by those doing a certain kind of watching. * I have to tell you: I don’t know what became of it. Later, I find my mother had dragged the iron chairs and the heavy glass table around in a different direction. I knew then she had been thinking about this all morning, the way she kept coming outside and staring as if she were looking where I was looking but seeing something else unfold: How to sit. What to look at when sitting. I would have told her: not how to sit but how to dive— deep into a crevice and hide oneself in rocky stone. I would have shown her how to wait, until evening, and rise up, from darkness into blessed darkness. Into the fullness of embodied being—- Stretching into Savasana, Into the light of stars.
Jacqueline Henry (she/her) is a Writer, Poet & Creative whose work has appeared in numerous literary magazines and publications. Under the name, Jackie Moloney, you’ll find her teaching somatic writing, kundalini yoga and spirituality through her site Faith-in-Form.com. A Reiki Master and Embodied Yoga Life Coach, she offers distance Reiki sessions that harmonize energy healing with the art of writing. She is also a Reiki volunteer for her local hospice center.