By Liza Sparks
“…nada hay más misterioso que el destino de un cuerpo…”
“…there is nothing more mysterious than the destiny of a body…”
–E.M. Cioran
there is no atlas to this land –
you may lose yourself
within the forests & sculpture
of skin.
it is a sacred place –
bleeding rosary beads
from the rivers of its fingertips.
there is a religion in the mundane.
holy! holy! holy! touch
is a miracle. the Body is god.
lord hear our prayer –
may we collide with one another. touch
is a miracle. the Body is god.
lord hear our prayer –
may we collide with one another. touch
is a miracle. the Body is god.
lord hear our prayer –
may we live in flesh
& not in shadow. touch
is a miracle. the Body is god.
lord hear our prayer –
if we do not collide in life,
let us collide in death. touch
is a miracle. the Body is god.
lord hear our prayer –
may we, oh Body,
collide with one another.
amen.


Liza Sparks is a poet, educator, and creative. She is a multiracial (of mixed Japanese, Indigenous, and European ancestry), pansexual woman living and writing in Colorado. Liza holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Poetry from Colorado College and a Master’s Degree in Community Education from Goddard College. Her most recent print publication was in Stain’d Arts Magazine. Liza was a finalist for Denver’s Lighthouse Writer’s Workshop Emerging Writer Fellowship in Poetry 2019 and a semifinalist for Button Poetry’s Chapbook Contest 2019. She is interested in art as a pathway to authentic expression, healing, and collective liberation.