onstage at my new york recital

—an armed fiend.

One crisp strike—

He’s inside! ,

playing surgery with my belly.

His poison-tipped taunter

pierce perpendicular—

thrashing—snipping—biting—di/ssecting… — rendering me

s_p_r_a_w_l_e_d_

across an icy, sterile stage

trembling—

knotted entrails

dangling out—

Exposed—

no friendly darkness to blanket me—

Voice

aborted, breath

strangled-to-death—

Confidence, Self-Esteem

dripping, pooling

on
the
floor
.
.
.
.