Writing Exercise #12

Let's use a "ghost line," shall we?

"There is a winged-woman kneeling in the corner of the room."

________________________

The Patient

Her face is a jittery hare torn out of its fur.

The bottom of her dress is pinned beneath

one of the machines, but she does not seem to care.

We sit in the blue room together. The news anchor

is done up in lipstick and crime as the roses are dying of thirst.

There is a baby screaming down the hall,

and my old body hears her.

My breasts sulk in the trash can, shriveled

like tongues.

- - -

(From an image by the artist, Snik.)