May 13, 2009 / Creative Writing
I watched Rebel Without a Cause on TV late one college night when I learned …
the juncture of beauty and cognition,
practicality and imagination—
these are our clothes.
we are wearing art.
unaware that we are muses,
we swim in conception,
sleep among wonder,
adjacent to inventiveness.
we are wearing art.
oblivious to our bodied significance,
stunning precisely
because we are canvas,
clay
and stone,
sand
and volcano.
our bodies—
surfaced wearings—
steer life into the center,
into stitches,
concentrated colors,
chaotic collaborations.
feverish
we glimpse the world
that will be
our skin
lovely
infinite.
Oluwatomisin Oredein
Oluwatomisin “Tomi” Oredein is a ThD candidate in theology and ethics at Duke University Divinity School. Her work focuses on Christian theology from an African diasporic perspective. Oredein is a contributing editor at Marginalia LA Review of Books and the author of the chapbook i have stared down winters.