Catalysis and Delirium
a marginally redemptive micro biography
offhandedly ushered into this reverie
by Ellipsis the muse of all highway roundabouts
my first impressions at age minus 20 minutes
stuck in the birth canal of a woman
whose deeper psychological structures
think she is withholding permission
her screaming was possibly misplaced
since dying was only seemingly inevitable
not knowing what a scream is
I am struck by the echo in the delivery room
which gives me my first indication
of a space that is filled with something other
myself presently possessing nothing other
only a great body-long dimensionless squeezing
amplified by the gentle tug
of my deliveryman's forceps
though possibly not so gentle
since to this day I am left with
dents and ripples upon my peanut head
which would constitute a turgid prose novel
for any Nazi phrenologist worth his calipers
apparently a mighty heave ho
and some cheer leading by the hovering nurses
released her death grip sufficient to the task
of birthing another potential carrier of civilization
into the world of sequence and insanity
I suppose all that future grunting
kinda got its start right here
Copyright © Walter Alter | Year Posted 2019
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