after torrin a. greathouse

​

A network of traffic lights all blinking red;

A swarm of ants forming a raft

from their bodies to survive

a forty-year flood; Animal; Passenger; Prophet;

A horse, two feet back from the start,

bucking; The jockey, booted

feet sliding into the stirrups;

A two-part name; A birth date;

Miles and miles of ticker tape;

A diagram of a mannequin body,

every limb and joint a red

pen note: pain upon– chronic since–

burning– aching– constant–

diagnosed– possible– suspected–;

An object impossibly suspended

by the frictioned ridge of the fingerprint;

The pulp of a pomelo cut free from the skin

by a nimble paring knife against the palm.

The white chalk outline of a body

superseded by the flesh of it;

Pop of water hitting the fry pan;

Static frequency of my plastic

childhood radio; A postcard meadow,

snake unseen somewhere

in Technicolor blooms; The sky’s expanse

pooling past the meridian line to frame

Greetings from [EXAM ROOM 3]!; The unshot gun

on Chekov’s mantel; The deer head mounted above,

waiting still for it all to pass;

A list of symptoms that need repeating; A claim

to medical necessity; A number on a scale from one–