Under the Knife

“A Broken Eye Still Cries” by Marsha Elliott

 

 

counting backwards into the ether

rush of moments remembered

illogical sequence of images

flash like the frames of a movie reel

speeding through sprockets

a ratcheting ratcheting diminuendo

pulls consciousness deep

down and down to the void

the black bottom of nothing

where pain can no longer be felt

but is nonetheless

horridly dreamt and imagined

aware of the cutting

through gristle and bone

vicious violent strokes

precise surgical actions

in synch with unhearable

rhythmical beats of insidious

heart and lung pumping machines

life no longer completely contained

to this flesh and blood entity

shared now instead with

strange grim apparatus

inanimate engines and objects

of rubber and plastic and steel

where the unsleeping soul

finds uncomfortable annex

and desperate prayer

races to and fro coursing through

stiff inarticulate hoses and tubes

back and forth between

mindful and mindless receptacles

frantic in search of a terrified voice