dissection

today's biology lesson: scalpels are amazing.

what i learned in my biology class today:

 

you can stand there, as though dreamily,

absentmindedly, tracing the edge across your hand

finally press down when your lab partner looks away

and nobody will say a word.

 

you can stand there, literally dripping

with a smile on your face and blood on your teeth

leaving red thumbprints on your lab paper

and nobody will say a word.

 

you can stand there, licking along the fine line

between sanity and insanity

thinking, oh, i must get one of these

and nobody will say a word.

 

(mr. woods looked at me strangely

and asked me how many scalpels were in my tray.

and made me count them again.

don't worry, nobody's stealing them--

yep, still two--

with a secret smile

and my thumb folded inside my hand)

Author's Note

kira in class.

Reviews

[Sam]

I liked the dark side of this. I liked the blood, the gore of it all. I liked that no one seemed to pay attention to the elephant in the room, that someone was quietly going crazy and no one did anything about the blood. Oh, I’m sure they cared but they just weren’t brave enough to do anything. Not many people get that there is a fear in everyone that keeps them from speaking. Whether it’s a girl cutting herself in biology or the kid who comes to school with bruises and doesn’t talk about it. Sometimes it’s not as obvious as watching someone steal a scalpel from the class room. Sometimes people remain oblivious to things because they simple “didn’t know”. I like how you seemed to make a message out of that, whether it was your intention or not. Great job!

[Ben Taylor]

Honestly, the intro is a bit "clunky".

Other than that though..this was superb. Interestingly enough, I didn't even notice that you repeated "and nobody will say a word" three times until I reread it; it just fits in so nicely.
The subject matter is slightly disturbing, but oh, so well done.

[Aurora Lynn]

From the very beginning I thought this poem was going to be about something entirely different, but was pleasently surprised. Well, I'm not sure pleasently was the best word for it, considering the topic. It scared me a little bit how easy it was to steal the scalpels and how they were going to use them. You are right, you are in too deep! Thank you for writing and thank you for submitting this into my contest!
~Aurora Lynn, from 'In Too Deep'

[Raymond]

I think good writing describes well something we have all seen. I think great writing describes the things we've never seen but draws them so clearly we can never forget them...I'm checking my daughters for cuts....nice job Kira.

[Lyzzy Redd]

This is psychologically disturbing. Wow. This poem kind of just blew me away. It's so beautiful in a frightening way.

[halflives]

Oh my.