Chimera

Sometimes I go bump in the night.

splay me out like a Vitruvian Man
on your Playskool operating table.
transfuse me with enough quicksilver blood
to be sure my shotgun heart never stops
pumping shells into my brain.

string me up from the sky like a marionette,
and watch me swing from the rafters of space-time,
or stash me away in earth's dusty attic
until the asbestos go supernova
and the paint chips off my eyes.

sacrifice me on a cardboard altar
to the god of babies left in dumpsters
and lend my name to whatever flavor of bleach
you choose to feed the survivors
that have to clean up this mess I've made.

and i'll try not to be too grateful
for the mercy you will have shown me.

Reviews

[Collect-Eye]

You say you write for fun, but you're certainly not playing around in this piece
this piece is a genuine mind f**k
it's graspable on the level of imagination but requires multiple reads to get the full effect consciously and philosophically
I have a 70 y/o literary junkie and he's shown me everything from mayatovsky to roethke and I've seen nothing that puts this piece to shame
"stash me away in earth's dusty attic
until the asbestos go supernova
and the paint chips off my eyes."
you are hereby forbidden to call urself a hack any longer

[Joiedevivre]

Wow another brilliant write! First and last stanza mind blowing. I'm excited to read more.

[roarke]

The words pool the primordial soup and viola creation springs forth.

...and to think "War and Peace" could have been of this punchy length.

Good stuff, stirs the brain.

[Sam]

I had to read this poem twice to fully comprehend it. I love writing like that, and I would like to let you to know that I think this poem is f*****g amazing and you should keep writing stuff like this. Keep writing. :)

[arbitrary jane]

this is the prophet in bitter, in-your-face disgust.
the rage of the unholy martyr before the melting fires.
the quicksilver blood/ shotgun heart image is one of those that resonates as the absolute RIGHT one. and the supernova asbestos is a side of HOLY CRAP, YES!
it feels like, though (and i don't even want to intimate that this is anything less than completely awesome) the last line lacks the razor sharp, dripping contempt of the rest of it. sharpen the tip of the blade and they won't even feel the bloodletting.

[Emily B]

John said some pretty serious stuff about your piece in his review below. I tend to believe him. You know what you're doing.

[ju]

i read this last night- a few times. only on returning to it now can i start to grasp the thoughts. i was instantly struck by the images, strength and frequency of. "splay me out ...... shells into my brain" to me is the strongest part of this brilliant write. "marionette"s and "dusty attics" i'd usually condem to the cliche bin BUT the space-time line has saved them both. very powerful.

[John Jackson (El Juero)]

Your literary heart certainly never stops pumping words into your brain. This is magnificent and vast, within and without the realm of the subject. 'Playskool operating table' was a wry line.
Fantastic writing.

[Lilly Negoi]

eish! hectic task...