the stomach quakes, it’s mine
(if i can still call my body mine)
that was injected with needles
by force and restraint
and left to lie beneath the monitor box
whose red eyes show-up in my eyes,
flickering in my mind’s eye, my face,
the observed and the observer,
whose probes measure my racing heart,
my every breath, my delirious gaze,
my griping, positioning, re-aligning,
turning a blind eye, on backs of heads,
the voices outside coming closer,
footsteps treading, real eyes staring,
my mind gripped, my body ripped,
my survival mode scheming, fuming…
and for the years and years i’ll smell
the odors of this very room,
and for the sightless whites of walls,
my vacant eyes will drown in silence.
Marcus Ten Low is a former involuntary client in the Mental Health system in Australia for almost 20 years. He aspires to be “kind to all beings” and works as an animal artivist including on social media @antibreeder1m and can be contacted at marcustenlow@gmail.com.
Leave a Reply