Monday, January 19, 2009

Epidemic.

i'll swallow the pills
that grate against my tongue like chalk
cough them down 
even as they leave their pale dust
on my tongue coating it white
leaving it silenced and numb
suffer the sting
of the silver needle sliding
through my shivering skin
and watch you pump the poison in
as long as it gets it all
close my eyes and imagine
it in small grey clouds
bustling through my veins all consuming
swallowing up the strange traces still in my system
and spilling them out in this salt
that i can't seem to stop spewing
and maybe i will finally be pure
be nothing but another collection of cells
and cords of electric impulses
that stumbles through this world 
like the rest of you
sure that this portion of reality
is all that is and all i'll need
please doctor please

you took an oath to make me whole
and you know i can't keep going
with this hole where my heart was
the spaces between my why and because

give me the cure 
give it quick
else doctor i swear
i'll die of homesickness

2 comments:

Candle in the Dark said...

hannah. that one put tears in my eyes. mainly because it all rings true right now. your poetry puts me in whatever situation it is. it amazes me how you can manage to transport me anywhere. thank you so much for sharing.

Unknown said...

i love the way "please doctor please" comes right before the stanza about the hole where the heart was the spaces between why and because. it just sounds so perfect that way. thank heaven for the healer. and why is it so hard to be pure.
Yet another amazing poem hannah. i could think over that one for about an hour and still feel both satisfied with the poem and dissatisfied with the meaning gained from it