OUT OF HELL
by Gwen Harwood
Collected Poems 1943 - 1995
One mornng when my brain was open
I heard the neurosurgeon say
" Mental events are physical events."
They showed me Pollock's Lucifer
I felt it as a linear headache.
Skeins of enamel clogged my frontal sinus.
"Nothing," the surgeon said. The students
dutifully echoed " Nothing ."
The pretty nurse said, " Not a trace."
They closed my head up again. Now I don't
speak, but fly at dawn and dusk
with webbing in my arms and high-
frequency shrieks. The surgeon says
" Cognitive dissonance ", and asks me:
" What is it like to be a bat? "
Just how many conservative crotchety old bats have signed up to the association Viv?( apart from our good selves)
ReplyDeleteWeeell, I started a Miserable old bats blog last Saturday, but so far with a resounding clang of failure to attract other MOBs. It is here: http://vivnada.wordpress.com/
ReplyDeleteI'm told it is easier to set up a blog where everyone can contribute if I use blogger. This technincompoop quails at the thought of learning another system!
BTW, I adore the sea photos. My idea of heaven is standing on a jetty watching waves crashing against it.
Is this more leg pulling from Viv? Your new address is a Spanish site called 'Life is a piece of sheet?'
ReplyDeletehe was, of course, mistaken. Dissident Cognizance is what you have.
ReplyDeleteI seem to be going through one of my spells lately. I'll say to you as I did to Viv, just shoo me off and I'll go quietly.
Vivnada stands for Viv, who you know, and a hilarious blogger called Ada whose blog is at http://pointsmeanprizes.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeletePS, just for you, Rall, the next episode of sleeping under the stairs is up on my normal blog.
ReplyDeleteNot sure I should be responding to this title, Rall?! I don't know about Ms Harwood but the poem's scary!
ReplyDeleteOh, I had forgotten you used to work in hospitals Barbara...thanks for the diagnosis.No point in having spells unless you can cast a few.
ReplyDeleteAda is that awful Welsh Mrs Trellis,first cousin
to Julia Gillard who has recently crash tackled her way into the Prime Minister's residence with her hairdresser boyfriend.I am very disappointed in your choice of companions Viv.
I agree Derrick. Australian poets are a scary lot.In fact Australian anything is quite scary.
Being a bat is great fun, especially if you live in a belfry! Ring-a-ding-ding. LOL
ReplyDeleteI'm batty all the time ;) Nice write here. A lot of fun! Love and Light, Sender
ReplyDeletefun read.
ReplyDeleteI love that matter-of-face opening line and the way the bemused tone of the whole piece.
ReplyDeletenicely done Rall....bats are ok.....BEATS are better...and southpaw BEATS even better....as I get lost in a Pollock painting....thanks for this
ReplyDeleteMiserable Old Bats? Ada Trellis from Abergele, North Wales, UK was the unwitting instigator, and was arguably the first MOB to infect blogland - the original Sourpuss. I should avoid if I were you.
ReplyDeleteOn the contrary, Rall - I think you should go there immediately (to Mrs T's blog)- how else will you know how the other half live?
ReplyDeleteI already know. I found both halves unappealing , and that is why I made the decision to live as a figment of your imagination.
ReplyDeleteIt's Mrs T's imagination you should be wary of, methinks! Sourpuss is too polite a word to describe that particular Miserable Old Bat! LOL :)
ReplyDelete