Jacqueline Pflaum-Carlson’s painting “Pillar of Light” (Intima, Spring 2022) imagines the spine radiating up from the pelvic girdle in a rainbow of color. What speaks to me in this image is its metaphor for the strength of the spine, standing tall, just as the color spectrum is a source of visual strength and completeness.

*Anastasia Vassos is the author of* Nike Adjusting Her Sandal (Nixes Mate 2021).

My poem “Architecture of Anatomy” (Intima, Spring 2022) compares the spine to a Doric column in the tunnel of an MRI machine. Just as light passes through the pelvis in Pflaum-Carlson’s rendering, so too do the magnetic resonances of the MRI machine recreate the image of the body’s architecture and underpinnings.

The spine’s compromises, as we age, are no joke. Arthritis, herniated discs, spinal stenosis, sciatica, and more, restrict movement and cause pain. Tools at our disposal exist to lessen that pain and ease movement—surgery, steroid injections, physical therapy exercises. Another less obvious treatment for our pain, whether it be physical, mental, or emotional, is art in all its forms. How poetry, painting, music, dance and more bring us a sense of peace, help us forget our pain, and soothe the anxiety that accompanies our hurt.

The speaker of my poem is deafened by the magnets during her MRI session and can still make out a tenor singing. In Pflaum-Carlson’s painting the spine, invisible to us, is rendered in glorious color—a reminder of what the Greeks aspired to:

A sound mind in a sound body / Νους υγιής εν σώματος υγιεί.

Anastasia Vassos is the author of Nike Adjusting Her Sandal (Nixes Mate 2021). Her poetry has been anthologized widely. Vassos speaks three languages and is a long-distance cyclist. IG: anastasiavassos TW: @a_vassos