Skin and bone

Held together by fine strands of tissue. Empty at an atomic level. Spinning, accelerating. An integrity guaranteed by physics, society. Individually apart, the same. Organic. Psychological complexity, false complexity.

  1. Skin

    Sticking on wet. Expected signs of
    language,

    1

    Learn a language in high school
    Watch anime without subtitles
    For hours the colours made sense
    discordant against a backdrop
    lacking

    2

    Air humid
    In a stationary atmosphere
    The edge of my body has no end
    representation. You
    speak,

    3

    Forgotten languages
    I spoke as a child
    Abandoned in silent recollections
    right? In worn expressions.
  2. Muscle

    Wrapped
    around

    4

    I read that in space
    Astronauts work
    As their muscles atrophy
    hard-shell. The freedom in
    imprisonment

    5

    Solitary confinement
    Indefinite detention
    Will unmake us
    through barbed wire hanging in camps.
    Held

    6

    Running for kilometres
    Body aches and sweats
    I chose to endure
    tight below the surface. Tearing.
  3. Bone

    Bleached in sunlight.
    Broken

    7

    White ground powder
    In a white ground bread
    This for the white giant
    through the surface. Hard,
    permanent.

    8

    Crouched over a computer
    Work related injuries
    Push ribs out against each other
    Unfailing frames of
    promise.

    9

    You always forget
    Walls of skulls
    War and occupation
    A sound cracking under weight.
  4. Marrow

    Clothed in
    tubes.

    10

    A sucking sound
    Of the contents removed
    From the intellect
    Bloodied in tight passageways, unable to find a
    way

    11

    I watched a documentary
    A man drilled into his own head 
    He survived
    out.
    Hostage

    12

    Trapped in the white bone
    Stripped of identity
    Your recourse is singular
    forgotten within the physicality.
  5. Mind

    Fragile,
    imaginary.

    13

    Recognising your own self
    Through senses
    You hope don't lie
    Constructed
    characteristics.

    14

    Mind collected
    From events, history, relationships
    I try to claim as my own
    A faux static
    realisation.

    15

    In calm control
    In control
    Control
    The shadow of unconsciousness. Echoing in empty rooms.
  6. Memory

    Incoherent whispers.
    Unfamiliar

    16

    My sister says
    In winter your breath
    Is like dragon smoke
    faces, unremembered
    places.

    17

    The house
    Where the monkeys watched the cat
    Days diluted among many others
    Difficult pieces of remembrance pushed under
    layers

    18

    In-between
    Here and there
    Skin and bone
    of skin, leaking emotions.