“The shapes of body parts
are assumed to have some relation to their purpose”
including the human egg—though bird eggs
are not round (as in a child’s drawing)
which biologists attribute
“to both the arduous passage
the egg makes through the avian oviduct
and the fact that oval eggs
roll in a circle rather than a straight line
and thus are less likely to fall out of a nest.”
Both my daughters had to be wrenched out—
cesarean and forceps, respectively—
which affected their shapes (yes really)
and surely their temperaments.
Who knows of my own emergence
since my mother was blatantly circuitous.
Quoted portions are from Natalie Angier’s article “The Circular Logic of the Universe,” New York Times, December 8, 2009.
