ALIVE, MAN
Listen to that Godman
Laying it all down like
He knew me, when
The truth is that from
The first squirt of the Old Man’s
Jissom up the Old Lady’s Glory Hole
To the last squirt of blood
Beat by my battered heart
I always strayed far from
His Hallelujah Halls.
Hell, I started out as a squirt
And stayed a squirt all through
My bent-boned bowlegged days,
Jeering at the ectomorphs,
Cause the air was always
Purer down here.
Just listen to that jive
Being spewed by that
Reverse-collared fraud,
Telling the fools I was
Now a Scribe for God
(whoever she is).
Sheeit, everyone knows
The words I scribbled,
Those poems squirted from pens,
Clanked onto paper by steel rods,
And lit up on computer screens,
Were always mine alone.
They’re what lifted me
Above the crowd,
Chanting out loud,
“I’m alive, man, alive
And will be even after I die!”
The Ectomorph -- Christopher Sousa
William Herbert Sheldon, Jr., convinced that the psychological makeup of humans had biological foundations, constructed a classification system that associated physiology and psychology, which he outlined in "The Varieties of Human Physique" (1940) and "The Varieties of Temperament" (1942). (His godfather was psychologist/philosopher William James, noted for "The Varieties of Religious Experience.") Using body measurements and ratios derived from nude photographs and assigning every individual a 3-digit number, he developed a physique-classification of somatotypes that consisted of 3 body types. Endomorphs are rounded and soft, as nearly globular as humanly possible. They have a round head, a large, round abdomen, large internal organs relative to their size, and rather short arms and legs with fat upper arms and thighs but slender wrists and ankles. Under normal conditions they have a great deal of body fat, but, since their components were genetic, if starved they remain endomorphs, only thinner. They have a “viscerotonic” personality (i.e., relaxed, comfortable, extroverted). Ectomorphs are thin and fine-boned, with a thin face, high forehead, receding chin, narrow chest and abdomen, narrow heart, and long, thin arms and legs. They have little body fat or muscle, but a large skin surface and a large nervous system. If well fed, they do not gain weight easily, but if they becomes fat they are still considered to be ectomorphs, only overweight. They have a “cerebrotonic” personality (i.e., introverted, thoughtful, inhibited, sensitive). Mesomorphs are square and muscular with a square, massive head, broad, muscular chest and shoulders, a large heart, heavily muscled arms and legs, and minimal body fat. Their muscular development is distinguishable from those who depend on body-building exercises. They have a “somotonic” personality (i.e., active, dynamic, assertive, aggressive). When Sheldon later ("Varieties of Delinquent Youth," 1949) used this classification system to explain delinquent behavior, he claimed that delinquents were likely to be high in mesomorphy and low in ectomorphy and that mesomorphy’s associated temperaments (active and aggressive but lacking sensitivity and inhibition) tended to cause delinquency and criminal behavior.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm an endomorph.
ReplyDelete