The things you learn
at a routine physical—

how many times your heart
expands and contracts,
how pressured it is,
fueling your body,

how your lungs sound
to the man with the
stethoscope,

and, on a wall chart
of the ear, nose and throat,
discovering that your
larynx, closed, is in
phonation,
and, open, is in
inspiration—

spiritus—the breath
Hawaiians call ha—

drawing inspiration
as you speak, as your
lungs fill and empty, push
air into the squeezebox
and out through the
trachea,

to infuse life by breathing,

as that old, reliable
ticker lub-dubs along.