Bleed-Through
Posted by Esteban
The nurse came today. The best way to think about the wound, he explained, was as an inter-dimensional portal, a gateway between worlds. No wonder it hurts so much! He rubbed lavender oil around it. On one side the body, on the other everything else!
“Who did these stitches?” he asked, grimacing. The wound is a looking-glass in which we see the other history of our selves, a place where spaceships pass in the night into each other’s futures. His hands were firm and gentle.
I told him that wasn’t clear to me. “Remember that episode of Star Trek?” he asked. “The other Spock had a beard?” We never knew about the body!
So I understood. My glorified body is a body without organs. I am not impermeable. In fact, my permeability is my freedom and my salvation. And conversely, the self is a kind of excretion — like blood, sweat, shit, or semen. Usually, we’re in denial: that’s not me anymore! It was me but now it’s the opposite of me! But the truth — are you still listening? — is that I already was everything outside of me.
“This isn’t some kind of new age bullshit, is it?” I asked.
“No,” said the nurse. “It’s a battle plan.”
Oh! Esteban
I’d like to help relieving your pain.
i really miss your smile.
take care
Once you’re out, you’ll find that they’ve got in. I did not stop them. They could not be stopped. Operation Up Date: They hold the bridges. They’re in.
Begin looking at the surfaces, and you’ll see. They’re in the patterns of the bricks and the angles of the walls. They’re in the lines the rooftops draw against the sky. The closer you look, the more you’ll see.
They’re in the taps
in the sinks
in the pipes
in the lines, the veins
and the roots.
They’re in the prims
in the words
and in the space
between the letters.
They’re in the language
in the script
in the wind and the light.
Does anyone here remember if we’ve got any physicality left, or has it all gone mental?
huh? I just want Esteban back!
I like the phrase:
“licking their wounds”
b/c it’s so sessy sounding
Thanks for the cards and flowers, everyone! Thanks for the poetry, Burgess!