Knees and Elbows

Knees and elbows, the bony hinges
at the halfway mark of limbs.

These allow the arms and legs to bend,
to extend or contract. Straight lines

into angles thanks to these. These vertices.
Your knees, your elbows, they protrude

when in use, to crouch or kneel or walk,
when you fold your frame to sit in a chair.

Your arms on its arms, your legs on its legs,
a twinned skeleton, a throne to anatomy.

Sit and swing your hands and feet.
The elbows and knees are here, rounded

as the tops of pawns. The skin upon
your joints knows to stretch, to accommodate

the forceful bone beneath. Like fists
punching through drywall, knees and elbows

push and bump and claim some space,
these, your crooks, your corners.

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Hannah Stephenson is a writer living in Vancouver.  Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in ouroboros review, Mankind Magazine,Spoonful, and The Birmingham Arts Journal. You can visit her daily poetry blog, The Storialist, at www.thestorialist.com.

[Image: Jorge Galvao, Brazil]