“He [the king] has, or takes, the land in his natural Body, yet to this natural Body is conjoined his Body politic, which contains his royal Estate and Dignity … and these two Bodies are incorporated in one Person” - Ernst Kantorowicz

She stands before a sculpture named Look

Where she unspools twine from the knots

She loosened from her wrists the sigils

Heaving like words in a throat opened

Her Prayer like a touch and boiling

Shiver turning the dust-clouds into rain.

He stands before a lectern named Wash

Where he uncoils ribbons from the holes

He cut through his fingertips the callouses

Spinning like words in a throat opened

His Confession like a breath and frothing

Sieve turning the faucet-spit into wine.

She stands before a cabinet named Him

Where she unfastens metal from the wounds

He fashioned from his longing the edges

Dulling like words in a throat opened

Her Mouth like an end and whistling

Language turning him and her into them.

He stands before a maelstrom named Her

Where he uncovers stardust from the skin

She buried in her histories the diamonds

Thawing like words in a throat opened

His Arms like a wish and rippling

Music turning her and him into them.

They step into a Body named Them,

A sovereign dressed in dashes – in the

Oneness — of blood and otherwise.

They wash the sheets — in their creases,

Hands like residue — they look until

They know — all has been taken in.

They caress the cracks — of their Body,

Rolling – with the force of water —

Against a charged calm of white,

These puppet strings, these finger blades

Melting into entropy – into thirsting skin.

Are you hurting? Can you know me?

Form – a dialogue of breath – that never

Speaks in anything but wind-chimes

I open — I am vessels — I open

A crescendo of self — the taste of

Salt — a latticework that pieced their

Organs into motion — their storm

Breaks in rearing stars and thunder —

In the grandeur and silence of a

Church bell falling. Wet and earning,

They hold their Body in a singular

Time — one unfinished, but crackling

Like Godhood just the same.

He stands before an artist named She

She stands before a painting named He

And the roil beckons, ebbs.

Aidan Cooper '26

The Indicator x The Student: “A Sovereign / Two Bodies”