9 Mar 2006, 4:44am
Writing
by David


Downhill

after Popa

1
mammary gland
discarded pituitary
dislocated thumb/broken thumb
neatly severed pipe

at the edge of the shrapnel, like betrayal
you’re quite a coat
look, look, look, you– sneeze
out come the soft bits of your flesh, the bridge of your nose
look, a thumbnail

no really
where is the rest of you?

2
how strange it looks, turned inside-out
all that meat

but you are the bone of a hard head
you are a lesson in advertising
a bad aircraft

you are stuck in the middle
of the afterlife
your ankle floats in blood

by god
is that yours
it seems to be

get up get up get up

3
no more | no more
move
he(art) | he(artery) | too bad

but you aren’t near to them
nearby you aren’t

you are a pretty long way from them
you are a bodiless head you know

you are a hollow stem / the
shrapnel like betrayal

you are a stuck reed

4
nothing happens
you are the last one to call shots

you fall down
nipples, prick, hand
you fall through the sky

you become supremely neutral
like Switzerland