To a poet struggling to recover her words
Please note: this is not a metaphor.
In the spongy grey room, walls reticulated,
bony chair bolted to the upheaving floor,
spotlight at 10 flickers per minute,
she sits. There’s a hole in the side
of her head. There’s a hole where they
extracted the over-eager building blocks,
the out-of-control tidbits of DNA.
The incisions were precise, one must assume.
But it didn’t prevent the words … her words …
from escaping into the sterile air.
Now, a saintly smile framing her face,
she sits in the bony chair inside
the spongy grey room with reticulated walls
and reaches out to recapture
the stray letters that may or may not
have survived without her tender care.
I sit across from her, spoon-feeding
alphabet strands into a hungry mouth
fearful that the words that have kept her whole
that have defined her
that connect her to herself
that have built this grey room
will be unable to make the return journey.
Please note: This has not been a metaphor.
By Michael Mirolla (C) All rights reserved.
Note by Ariadne: this is the first time that I have been able to post due to problems with the website. I was able to hire our web hosts to create a secure site and update some needed connections. It still has some problems but at least I can get in and start updating some of the old texts and begin to make some changes or learn how. Thank you for your patience.