'You!' and 'conputruerunt Iumenta in cerebrum/ his brain is rotten' by Olivia Caldwell
Image from Unsplash
You!
You!
aching muscle
ancient woe
wandering eye
You!
medical anomaly
serpentine alchemist
impending apocalypse
You!
hearse dressed up as a limousine
bullet proof windows
glass ready to cave in
sharp shards sure to be lodged somewhere between the ear drum and the purpled undereye
You!
self-serving hedonist
champagne-touched
gold-embossed
but
grit-ridden
gliding - you magnificent creature!
as you’re pulled from room to room
You!
bloodstain
lingering on linen sheets
certain to be tossed away
when i am ready to let them go
Image from Unsplash
conputruerunt Iumenta in cerebrum/ his brain is rotten
when i told you that somebody should study you
i simply suggested that
a latex-gloved doctor should run a pair of wiry fingers
through the landscape of your brain
then stab at your limbs with dozens of glinting needles
until you’re made up of more pin pricks than skin
perhaps
a scalpel-handed surgeon
should tap away at your hardened spine
reaching for a softness
that they will never find.
Words by Olivia Caldwell
Images from Unsplash
Edited by Emily Gough