The bony labyrinth is a warren of tubes filled with fluid encased within the temporal bone of the skull. It has three sections. 1) The cochlea is responsible for hearing, 2) the semicircular canals, associated with balance, and 3) the vestibule which connects the two and contains two more balance and equilibrium related structures, the saccule and utricle

When properly positioned
in relation to
(need I say it?) her
I’m a gyroscope
poised, grave, centred.
But
sometimes she isn’t
where she’s supposed to
be in relation to
(need I say it?) me

Any shift in the
vestibular space that joins us
throws me off-kilter
robs me of the fixed point
I balance on and
sends me whirling,
through a maze of
twisting uncertainties.
I get dizzy, nauseated.

None of this would happen
if she’d just stay
where I put her.

Part of the Anatomy Project