CAULDRON
Stir this stew into a roiling turbulence.
Plumage ripped off bones of marooned parrot.
Scratch marks from hollow quills
across a pale cutaway coat, yellowed.
Plumage ripped off. Bones of marooned parrot
reeling. Glazed glint of hook & eyes
across a pale cutaway coat. Yellowed
vellum unfurled from a molting chest.
Reeling. Glazed glint of hook. And eyes
plucked from albino rodent and doll.
Vellum unfurled from a molding chest
within a musty root cellar. Picked lock
plucked from albino. Rodent and doll
clamped beneath rusty lids. Glass jars of dark preserves
within a musty root cellar. Picked lock
bleeding into red raspberries, blackening.
Clamped beneath rusty lids, glass jars of dark preserves.
Almost ready to be consumed.
Bleating into a red rasp. Berries' blackening
surface. A bitten tongue.
Almost ready to be consumed,
a fairy tale girl's confected lips
surface. A bitten tongue
like a curled petal pickled in red dye.
A fairy tale girl's confected lips
expelled stale bread crumbs disguised as pearls.
Like a curled petal pickled in red dye;
saturated in the burbling concoction.
Expelled. Stale breadcrumbs disguised as pearls.
Bubbles breaking around the neck like a cheap bazaar choker.
Saturated in the burbling concoction.
Seething, writhing, frothing at the mouth.
Bubbles breaking. Around the neck like a cheap bizarre choker -
scratch marks. From hollow quills -
seething, writhing, frothing at the mouth.
Stir this stew into a roiling turbulence.
"A definition is always difficult. I can more easily tell you what hysteria is not... It can be erotic - to echo common opinion - it can be dark, it can be mystical, it can be religious, it can be everything."
from: Janet Beizer 'Ventriloquized Bodies:narratives of hysteria in nineteenth century France'
