BRAIN BURNOUT (photomorph) & A HALLOWEEN DIAGNOSIS (free verse dream poem) by Roswila

A HALLOWEEN DIAGNOSIS

the ageless man sits there, old stove pipe hat in his hand,
rolling it around between his thick fingers: “Doctor, will
she be okay?” butter wouldn’t melt in this questioning
man’s mouth (any more than truth could slip out of his
artfully trembling lips); from her prone position and
apparently unconscious state, the patient finds herself
laughing silently and extremely wryly: she’d look
around but that would betray her one advantage
here (that she’s actually conscious and amazingly
clear-headed despite all the pain) as there simply
has to be a gaslight somewhere around here that
the doctor can turn on to improve his vision as he
diagnoses her under this miserable midnight (there
just has to be, doesn’t there?) but she supposes given
the incredible talent the stove pipe hat man has
when it comes to driving women out of their minds,
no lighting could make a difference anyway, as it
will do no more than cast a deceptive aura on the
subtle poison in her blood stream and across the
nano-stinging needles rising like five-clock-shadow
in her brain; he’s succeeded one more time, driven
one more woman crazier than she had ever thought
she would or could be, even given the many decades
of experience with her own denials (and distractions
and fakery) in her struggles to have a life; no,
the doctor can only declare her dead or rather,
very soon to be so -- which (as she lies there,
just one more lady in waiting) gives her a new
angle from which to view the barrages of incredibly
sharp nettles that her life has always shot her
down with (even before him): maybe this death
is more a gift, and this stove pipe
hat man no more and no less
than an angel of death


[free verse poem on a dream of 10-29-19. * "Gaslight" movie, the source of the expression “to gaslight” someone, i.e., meaning to subtly try to convince someone they’re insane. I’ve used this in dream poetry before here over the years, and am always surprised to be (re)reminded the movie was made the year I was born. Hm. BTW, just in case: a stove pipe hat was quite fashionable in the first half of the 19th century. It’s now often worn by villains in various movies and cartoons. It was also the kind President Lincoln was often pictured wearing. HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Photomorph “Brain Burnout” (10-21-19 [57-2]) by Roswila]

PLEASE NOTE: in most browsers you can click on the above image for a larger version. Also, the photo accompanying a post is not necessarily meant to illustrate it, but to reflect some small, even slant or contrasting aspect of the verse, similar to Japanese haiga (illustrated haiku).

There are many other sorts of posts on this blog. I indicate which are about or influenced by dreams. Some non dream focused posts are book reviews, "regular" poems (some by other writers), scifaiku, writing exercises, Tarot haiku, photos, haiga, and so on. However, most of those are in much older posts. There's a listing by month going back to early 2006, at the end of the sidebar.

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until next time, keep dreaming,





[a/k/a Patricia Kelly]
**** If you wish to copy or use any of my writing or poems, please email me for permission (under “View my complete profile”). Roswila's other blog (dedicated to her photos only, i.e. no poetry or other writing; daily post); TRYING TO HOLD A BOX OF LIGHT.