literature

Revolt

Deviation Actions

fernknits's avatar
By
Published:
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Literature Text

A doctor prepares me --
warm in your IV, now,

and my eyes yawn
straining for the jerk

of my bare foot
bound in the pressure cuff:

a hardly visible nod
to this disquiet --

but all I know
is the itching, tingling, lurid pleasure

of therapeutic yielding -- 
Incontinent thoughts

burgeon like embarrassing
hair in places

I wish they couldn't see:
me, supine 

on a stretcher, chin pointing straight
to the perforated ceiling,

sucking air
past desiccated tongue and cheeks

to frantic lungs
and yet-invalid soul.
Electroconvulsive therapy, from the patient's point of view.  

1) How clear is the picture?  How could I make it clearer?
2) How relatable is the emotion?  
3) Does the stanza structure add anything to the poem, or is it distracting?
© 2014 - 2024 fernknits
Comments3
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angelenroute's avatar
Hi, Sean here from We-Poets, finally stopping by with the critique you requested!

Incontinent thoughts
***lowercase incontinent

1) How clear is the picture?  How could I make it clearer?

It's very clear, and your technique and short lines/short poem really work well for this!  Excellent job!

2) How relatable is the emotion? 

I've never had this therapy I don't think, so not at all relatable personally, but I totally understand the feelings of being worked on, checked, inspected, and so on.

3) Does the stanza structure add anything to the poem, or is it distracting?

It works perfectly.  I think poetry is beautiful in just the right bite-size portions, and for this subject matter in particular, your little lines almost reflect the thoughts bouncing around a patient in step with his eyes moving back and forth with discomfort.  As I said, you did an excellent job with this!

-Sean