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+---
+date: 2017-06-03
+type: post
+title: Bruise Vision
+categories:
+- Poem
+ratings: G
+tags:
+- Poetry
+- Mental Health
+---
+
+<style>
+.row {
+    display: block;
+    vertical-align: top;
+}
+.col-md-4 {
+    width: 30%;
+    display: inline-block;
+    vertical-align: top;
+    padding: 0.5rem;
+}
+.text-right {
+    text-align: right;
+}
+.col-md-8 {
+    width: 60%;
+    display: inline-block;
+    vertical-align: top;
+    padding: 0.5rem;
+}
+@media only screen and (max-width: 500px) {
+    .col-md-4, .col-md-8 {
+        width: 100%;
+        display: block;
+    }
+}
+</style>
+
+<div class="row">
+    <div class="col-md-4 text-right">
+    <h3>I</h3>
+    <p><em>Geese Level:</em><br />
+    Unnerving</p>
+    <p><em>Expect:</em><br />
+    Anxiety</p>
+    </div>
+    <pre class="col-md-8 verse">
+A hundred geese overhead —
+    A thousand —
+        A million —
+
+Heady scent of premonition.
+Acrid tang of ill omens.
+Portents.
+Too much meaning
+    In too small a space.
+    </pre>
+</div>
+
+<div class="row">
+    <div class="col-md-4 text-right">
+    <h3>II</h3>
+    <p><em>Geese Level:</em><br />
+    Noise-Cancelling Headphones</p>
+    <p><em>Expect:</em><br />
+    auditory aberrations</p>
+    </div>
+    <pre class="col-md-8 verse">
+Geese are a byproduct of laminar shear stress
+    Of two layers of phantasmagorical
+        Newtonian fluids,
+    Which is why they’re often seen on a plane.
+A thin, sort-of Truth
+    From a sort of thin layer
+        geese chromatography.
+    </pre>
+</div>
+
+<div class="row">
+    <div class="col-md-4 text-right">
+    <h3>III</h3>
+    <p><em>Geese Level:</em><br />
+    Eldrich</p>
+    <p><em>Expect:</em><br />
+    red tint to vision; hot flashes</p>
+    </div>
+    <pre class="col-md-8 verse">
+As the dove bears the olive branch,
+    so to the goose bears the wand
+        that withers all it touches.
+A wand of nightshade,
+    Core of tainted silver.
+A wand of obscure origin,
+    The goose surely stole it.
+Malice begets malice.
+    </pre>
+</div>
+
+<div class="row">
+    <div class="col-md-4 text-right">
+    <h3>IV</h3>
+    <p><em>Geese Level:</em><br />
+    Beyond Comprehension</p>
+    <p><em>Expect:</em><br />
+    confusion; nausea; sweating; racing pulse</p>
+    </div>
+    <pre class="col-md-8 verse">
+We know not the transgression,
+    the origin -
+We know not the punishment,
+    only the terror.
+    </pre>
+</div>
+
+<div class="row">
+    <div class="col-md-4 text-right">
+    <h3>V</h3>
+    <p><em>Geese Level:</em><br />
+    Excruciating</p>
+    <p><em>Expect:</em><br />
+    pounding heart; tunnel vision; racing thoughts; black outs;
+blood pouring from ears</p>
+    </div>
+    <pre class="col-md-8 verse">
+Geas
+    Wing
+        Dark
+            Horizon
+    </pre>
+</div>
+
+<div class="row">
+    <div class="col-md-4 text-right">
+    <h3>VI</h3>
+    <p><em>Geese Level:</em><br />
+    Terrifying</p>
+    <p><em>Expect:</em><br />
+    tinnitus; piloerection; shortness of breath; uneven gait</p>
+    </div>
+    <pre class="col-md-8 verse">
+I’d rather owls.
+Owls, as though geese were turned inside out,
+    made less evil.
+Still portentous,
+    Still momentous,
+    Just less terrifying.
+Owls are okay.
+I can think about owls.
+    </pre>
+</div>
+
+<div class="row">
+    <div class="col-md-4 text-right">
+    <h3>VII</h3>
+    <p><em>Geese Level:</em><br />
+    Uncomfortable</p>
+    <p><em>Expect:</em><br />
+    subdermal itching; formication</p>
+    </div>
+    <pre class="col-md-8 verse">
+Life within a comfortable grid.
+Parallel lines
+    Interrupting narrowing circles
+    Of birds in flight.
+Travel in straight lines.
+Turn at right angles.
+Trace the roof of your mouth
+    With wet tongue.
+
+I’m not afraid of geese anymore
+    Because I can step on them now.
+I’m big enough.
+    </pre>
+</div>
+
+<div class="row">
+    <div class="col-md-4 text-right">
+    <h3>VIII</h3>
+    <p><em>Geese Level:</em><br />
+    Birds</p>
+    <p><em>Expect:</em><br />
+    birds</p>
+    </div>
+    <pre class="col-md-8 verse">
+Ritual thinking
+    Driven by geese —
+    By lines, by grids, by food —
+    By numbers and neat delineation.
+And I’m left with questions:
+    Why are they so portentous?
+    Why the anxiety?
+Or maybe:
+    Did I take my meds this morning?
+
+Failing that,
+    Can I just have the comfort of prayer
+    Or the ecstasy of signs
+        Without the bleak paranoia
+        Over circling birds?
+    </pre>
+</div>