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
.
.
.
.