Curved bones forming a prison that keeps the heart safe while allowing lungs to grow with each breath, ribs are the cage guarding our most important organ. According Genesis, woman came from man's rib, near the heart, neither above nor below but rather beside. Whether metaphorical or literal, the message was obvious: intimacy creates equality.
Ribs, pork, beef, smoked low and slow until the meat slips off the bone, are revered in barbecue culture. Reverting to prehistoric eating, we gnaw them like ancestral recollections, fingers oily with sauce. We advise regarding food that supports, dinners heavy enough to ground you throughout strenuous employment, stick to your ribs.
Comedians understand ribs differently, I'm going to break a rib laughing; physical comedy is really hurting from pleasure. Boxers attack them thoughtfully, body punches stealing breath, pain spanning the trunk long after the hit connects. Everywhere, sweaters, condoms, building, the ribbed pattern shows itself. Those repeating curves implying strength through repetition and flexibility via structure; the same wisdom our bones picked up millennia ago.