DISCOVERING THE HOLE

Hole
J.B. Rowell

Tireless up down,
up down,
a bit floppy, but still,
drum-beating
blood travels and
life is taken along.
A thin escape slips
into the next chamber,
carrying oxygen
lungs wait
to receive.

I watch with the reverence
and fear of witnessing
something I shouldn’t:
the moment
disaster moves in,
the space between
cars just before impact,
or a baby pre-born,
when you see
for the first time
the creature you are harboring.

Saline injected,
cold rushes up arm,
lighting right
chamber with bouncing
luminous bubbles,
then a tiny whiff
of white through a wall,
an aberration,
doctor breaks
protocol,
Uh oh.