Whose Body

"'Whose Body' abounds with questions," writes Donald Levering. "The title implies the question, Whose body is this that I occupy, whose body is this that feels love or pleasure or suffers so self-importantly? The infant heard sobbing next door or the tortured political prisoner, are their bodies also not mine? Another side of the question is, "who is this 'I' that occupies a certain body at a certain time?" Does it maintain an identify apart from the body it inhabits, this body with its specific scars, warm places, habits, and infirmities? Instead of supplying answers, I hope that the poems give flesh and body to the enigmas. As I was writing, I imagined a strict Zen Master looking over my shoulder ready to whap this body with a stick if a poem started to fall asleep." Born in Kansas City, Donald Levering was educated at Baker University, Kansas University, Lewis and Clark College, and Bowling Green State University. His prior publications include five chapbooks of poetry, "The Jack of Spring," "Carpool," "Mister Ubiquity," "The Fast of Thoth," and "The Kingdom of Ignorance," as well as two full-length poetry volumes, "Outcroppings From Navajoland" and "Horsetail." Mr. Levering was a recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship Grant in poetry and a first place winner of the Quest for Peace Writing Contest. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he works as a human services administrator.