I feel I’m careening out of my skin,

loosely strapped to this body

I’m stuck inside,

my vision reduced to the glowing oracle

that speaks and speaks,

handing down its endless hoard of

noisy wisdom.


The goddess assaults my eyes, my ears,

disembodies me in isolated audience

to her seductive deity.

The world stops when she nears

and stoops to steal my breath

as she cradles my neck within her grip,

forbidding me to look away

from her gracious gifts.

I learn not to gasp for air.

Until I slip—

I adjust the sodden, floating mass

heaving along on top of me

and remember how it feels to have a body

and a crick in my neck.