The other day while I was in a park where I heard an adult asking a group of children, “Can anyone tell me how you put on your belly button?”  I am sure that the adult meant to ask another question and got their words mixed up, but nonetheless the children looked quite bewildered at one another and had a laugh.  I thought it was a good question for a poem and so I turned it into one.  It’s written in the form of a villanelle.  It’s silly, but I like silly 🙂

‘How Is Your Belly Button Sewn On?’

by Nahum H. Sennitt (August 2023)

Say, how is your belly button sewn on?

With stitches and thread, or needles that knit?

Please take your time; don’t position it wrong.

When adding your navel you may sing a song

And maybe you stand – and yet you could sit.

Say, how is your belly button sewn on?

Perhaps it is short; I hope it’s not long;

Perhaps it holds fast – or maybe it’s split.

Please take your time; don’t position it wrong!

Perhaps you have made it holding some tongs

Or wearing some gloves or donning your mitts.

Say, how is your belly button sewn on?

Pray tell, how’s your button coming along?

Does it ride on your knees or hide in your pits?

Please take your time; don’t position it wrong.

Was your mid-point created with palm tree fronds?

Is it filled with scum or dander or grit?

Say, how is your belly button sewn on?

Please take your time; don’t position it wrong.