Original Image Credit: @thinkosteopathy on Instagram / Edits by Elspeth Acosta
Ode to the bird who flies in my head I’ve got more to say about her She who we call sphenoid because of the wedge she wields I’ve talked about how she flies But haven’t yet spoken of how she yields The ways she effects my gait from her perched place How her legs help mine to stand I’ve discovered this about her slowly Through many visits over time I want everyone to know There’s a relationship between the bird legs in your head And the way your feet touch the ground That’s true for all of us All the way around. Ode to the bird who flies in my head She’s called the sphenoid Which comes from words meaning things like a wedge Her legs they call pterygoid processes Pterygoid comes from a word meaning wing like And if you looked at them by themselves you might see Dragonfly wings drawn back or something like that But we’re talking about legs below bird wings Small legs that carry big things Ode to the bird with legs who flies in my head She’s alive and well unlike the pterodactyl From whom the word pterygoid descends Yet she carries ancient wisdom too As all your bones do A knowing you have all the way to your toes Wisdom moving you right now And holding you in place Helping you to stand and take up space Here to support you through success and strife Over the course of your life Ode to the bird with legs who flies in my head It might seem like a fascial stretch To relate the head to the heart The bird to the love nest But long before there was bone or heart Way back At the very start Of the body you inhabit now Your early heart Sat upon your early brain And then bowed down and folded in To the place where you think it’s always been And then after this bow The bird in your head She began to carry your heart somehow Her ptyergoid processes are the anchors of a swing From there fascial tracts make a road That support your heart to rock and roll Carry the beat and hold it steady The way the bird who flies in your head Cradles and rocks the pericardium The basket around your heart Is a remarkable art. Isn’t it good to know that your heart is in a basket? One that supports you even when you don’t ask it? It’s a team effort between brain and heart Like it’s been from the very start! Ode to the bird who flies in all our heads She who can spread her wings in flight And move through spaces that are tight Her legs are strong enough to carry the heart As she swoops back and forth with ease The heart swings in her wing-inspired breeze Ode to the bird who flies in all our heads Some of whose stories you have heard And many other beings we have yet to speak of Equally intricate tools In this human body of yours Your very own bag of jewels Life is SO cool!
©Margaret Rosenau, 2023
