Best Optic Nerve Poems
Unburdened by mass,
star born
photons
hurtle
through vacuum voids.
They reach a planet
where green continents swim
in blue oceans.
It is night. A woman
looks up at the sky.
The photons travel
through the gelatinous matter
of her eye and die
on her retina,
sparking electric pulses
that race
along the optic nerve,
and her miraculous brain
translates:
I see a star.
I feel as if walking inside
an impressionistic painting, that too in 3D
as far as I can see, a world of dots and light
the same as what I’m made of.
I see summer in spring.
My eyes touch the sky and sky me.
I feel people staring at me
but why don’t they ask me about my Glaucoma.
My optic nerve, the cable, is damaged
And sends visual information to the brain
And can cause slight vision or even blindness
And am advised to take marijuana,
The most controversial choice
though there are alternative therapies.
I know smoking marijuana has been proven
to reduce intra ocular pressure
and prevents optic nerve damage
but takes a heavy toll
as one has to smoke multiple times a day
for the consistent results
adding to the global drama of medical marijuana.
I am trying it out but…….
Feeling the side effects of depression & exacerbate asthma.
+++
November 29, 2014
Form: Free Verse
Dr.Ram Mehta
7th place win
Contest: Medical Marijuana by Debbie Guzzi
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the town
Not a creature was breathing, not one to be found.
Bloody hand prints swept the walls which once were white
Darkness overshadowed anything that had light
Little boys were decapitated and sprawled across the floor,
While little girls were skinned alive; hung as décor for every door.
Mothers had their jaws ripped straight from their heads
As their children screamed for mercy from their very own beds.
Panic and pain ricocheted off the walls
Pets were brutally butchered then stretched out in the halls
And Fathers were kept alive long enough to observe
Then their eyes were gouged only to dangle by an optic nerve
Fifty-six minutes is all the creature takes
To slay the whole town with its massacre earthquake
Agony rained something fierce this night
For this town was caught in the worst of plights
And the echo of dripping blood is now all you can hear
The stench swimming through the air is encapsulated fear.
To have dodged this slaughter would have been transmundane
For this monster, this beast was most definitely inhumane
It came through the windows and tore through the blinds
Grabbing any human or beast it could find
Then Slash the body! Gnash at the body! Bash them in the crown!
And Thrash the body! Lash at the body! Mash the body down!
Then it rips out your tongue and swallows it whole
This fiendish freak has a heart made of coal
When wondering eyes caught a glimpse of what did appear
They knew it wasn’t Santa and his flying reindeers
Blips repeat on man's optic nerve
Reflections of each shapely curve
The impulse to meet
Slows the beat of his feet
And to greet the target he'll swerve
Voices of the silent whispers echo deeply disturbing fact
debates hold principle those with brains tear down structures
human rights ignored opening up a can of worms within morals
where truth is hidden away questions agenda
envelope of forgotten yesterdays sealed fate
Honour amongst thieves new world order social control
handshakes grasp secret societies revealing dark shades
cover ups underneath the veil careless actions endanger security
desert storm powered by the central bank hidden secrets leak oil
Where the so called elite are born without sin lawless diamonds
with their silver spoons attached empty vessels without moral right
classifies perfection untouchable agents of death
In the heart of a free man looking at the system
creating slavery cutting wages spying imprisoning freedom of choice
Applying pressure drones killing families
within a cloud of dust or inside evidence to support such horror actions
criminal murderers sitting in their offices should be banged to rights
leaving no place for hope or a just democracy strikes issues flawed
To fatten their purses behind the revolving doors open guess
Suffering begins with espionage
loveless pride exposing sheltered acts
dragging your heals security council protecting the vulnerable's need
instead liberal intelligence with your reductions clearly speak volumes
threatening the poorer field positions you without care
Royalty who profit from others pain hidden agendas lie
conspiracy theories can carry truth to the button
because something is hidden away under dressing why
we ask ourselves those not brainwashed
dirty arms deals laundering ill got money gains
The heads of states
they are clearly breaking the law
justice is so corrupt fact
every Joe soap knows
they only give us the partial truth
optic nerve cell centre brings up a live wire
They do not give a rats ****
who use uranium tipped enriched missals
poisoning the earth's crust stringing us along as peace keepers
arming terrorists is an act of war against peace makers
countless innocent have died at the hands of murderers
As you look at me I'm not him.
Wearing a face of a man that does not exist, a myth.
For i am reserved, deep within the confines of self.
Ensorcelled, impelled, upon a journey of discovery.
Under the melanin pigmentation of epidermal.
Through the subcutaneous tissue, to travel around blood vessels, capillaries, and arteries, the rivers of life.
Observed and closely investigated all the fibers of the muscles, the joints, and the tendons which bind them.
From the plantar, up the nervous system, to the cranium.
Within the essence of me, the was, the is, and the maybe, the realms of my brain.
Continuing through the optic nerve, peering through the retina.
If seeing is believing, then there's more says my fervor.
So I close the lids and travel further.
Encaged within the thoracic, observing the pulmonary action of breath taking.
At that moment, I hear the rhythm, the drumming of existence.
Astonished with disbelief, awaiting to awaken from this dream.
All the days and years of believing me void.
There it is, pulsating with strength, feeding all the limbs and giving me life.
Contradicting the accusations and claims
of the misinformed strife.
Reinforced by the deeds and sacrifices, the joy and the pains endured.
Shattered like glass, the image i am not.
Against all odds, I found that I do have a heart.
A few weeks ago, about 9:00 AM
My head started aching; loss my vigor & vim
It’s didn’t let up; just got more intense
At midnight to the hospital I went
In the ER and seeking some relief
Had to just wait as the cause they did seek
While they did MRI’s and scans and stuff
I had to suffer and hang in there tough
The staff got their data; gave me morphine
On it for two days before I was weaned
My head got better; still took Percocet
On the fourth day I was about off that
“A pituitary tumor”, they said
“Has been growing for years inside your head”
Headache came and went, that threw them a curve
The tumor could damage the optic nerve
The neurosurgeon sized it up this way
Your sight may stay just as it is today
As long as the tumor grows very slow
To restore loss sight, the tumor must go
If your Cardiologist thinks your fit
You can opt to have me get rid of it
My heart doctor scared the hell out of me
Then agreed I could have the surgery
At this point I wanted it out right now
By waiting I could lose more sight somehow
My wife only wanted things to move slow
Scared of the surgery I’d undergo
The third doctor involved in my case
This endocrinologist takes First Place
He studied my situation and found
Something which actually turned things around
Labs from Arizona, done months ago
Didn’t jive, things were high - should be low
A rare condition when the thyroid fails
Is making the pituitary swell
The doctor knew of this rare condition
No surgery now was his position
It mimics a tumor, but best of all
Fixable without surgery at all
The endocrinologist said it’s rare
Never seen in his years of giving care
The neurosurgeon also said the same
Man! my lucky day, I won this health game
Surgery was scheduled inside a week
Such an outcome, no better could I seek
My family can now get back to living
My thanks to God, I’ll never stop giving
Charles Sides
The optic nerve is the longest nerve in the body,
But its really just a message carrier to the brain,
Where sight is actually seen.
The ear, on the other hand,
Is the on-ramp for music,
Leading down the higway,
Directly to the soul.
I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allan Poe
The crowd approached the lens of the mega camera. Its gnawing rose up in the smoke of 5,438 cigarettes encircled in the density of that afternoon. Moisture brought a stench of copper and old gold and bits of coal intermingled with splinters from -what at simple glance appeared to be- a human jaw. When it rains, Palenque is as fragile and shifting as mirages in the desert.
The euphoria had taken over the town and made of the palenqueros, clairvoyants. The exorbitant pressures on their optic nerve reached the braking point of their vessels. Seeing was no longer possible, now with bloody pupils, in the immense darkness, they became seers.
The hour advanced in highs and lows precipitation. The cloudburst couldn't wait; heavy drops rushed down and some ran with paper bags on their heads, while others made a circle gripped by the handles of their coffee cups. In the distance a haunted chant:
OTRA, OTRA, OTRA!
The mantle of the night caught fire and the howling resounding swindled like pinwheels. The strange music of pain. In a defiant effort, they aimed at turning their heads like tourniquets as they marched on, insanely saints.
So the world softly exploded,
concussion grenade in a pillow factory;
shocking and disjointing,
dust and feathers spraying the vision,
tickling the optic nerve.
Clattering and booming, although
silently, like an inconsequential earthquake
in a vacuum.
Heartbeats came limping through,
dull, solemn, the drum accompanying
a funeral march, slightly out of time.
Green lines skipped and blipped,
radar peaks and troughs,
portions erased here and there
gaps in the picture.
There’s no life on Mars,
and little left in here in this room,
well, curtained cubicle
of sparse clinical veneer.
Alone with sensations of dying and
death, alone with the self,
last thoughts,
a mortal coil sparkling weakly
like slowly flattening lemonade.
Ah, let’s not be melodramatic,
this supposed cataclysm,
seismic event of the flesh,
it’s, quite frankly,
overrated…
and as for pain,
I’ve had worse…
I dance in the dark
Probably cause these no one staring at me,
Just me looking at the abyss
Contemplating how I'll reach the light
Since im in the dark dancing around in circles,
Opening portals to unknown dimensions,
Its a party and no ones invited,
Like Christmas for saints
And girls for men,
The classes and categories we fall under
To the roof top we have to break to get outta here,
They say follow your dreams
Well this is the solar system
Climbing the mountain top to reach
the sun just don't get burned,
The eyes of the mighty father
And the lies of man,
So the son was never born
The mother never married
Like the whole family was distorted
So we were never saved
So we all are sinners
Like one is all, all is one.
The stone carved by them
The grass that grow under,
So I have to set my plans
Draw up strategies for my goals
and as time goes by I evaluate my progress,
Now and then I formulate new things
This is all for the dream of reaching nothingness,
The cold, The gold at the end,
Chasing paper the long race,
I have to watch out for the rabbit
We all know they see clearly due to the carrots
The great orange, giving emphasis to the optic nerve,
Visualizing so there's no knocking against something
Just landing, and landing softly,
The steady movement as you know you reaching your dreams
The cosmos, now you an alien
Watching over earthlings
Deciphering with Martians
Feasting with reptilians
Helping one awake like I'm a pleiadian
So I astral projection to 4th dimension,
Dreaming, streaming mind
So im saving time
Call me fate, and that's fiction
Like the legends we learn about in school,
The whole story behind education so we read,
Like the owl, the wisdom I wished I had
The grades I wished had passed
But we not going to the past
like the world isn't moving backwards
So we stand, follow the same line
Waking up everyday all over again.
Not beauteuos to say but you more than
A frog to kiss, In nous you inflicts these
Emotions that spins round and round in
My mind, irresistable and the pulse harsh.
With a gaze to your splendid torso, brings
Forth a maze, that I am lost in thy white
Rimed perplexing eyes only my portray to
See bewildered in the dark pigmented iris
If not this be error, an optic nerve Beauty
Then I have learnt to appreciate my lady
And comprehend in nous my lameo not
To voe thy affections. A figment of minds
More than a fantasy... That you are even
The reason to my dawn ejaculations awry
Craiz as it is Tapiwa words cant weird all
In that is deeply hidden in fragile hearts.
The focus burns through a paper-thin reality
seared rings smolder,
the laser fixed eye
becomes a fire starter.
You watch that slow burn
as the watcher watches the one who watches.
The foothills of mind catch the tinder, simmer
until lightning strikes flash upon an optic nerve,
a flare of solar plexus radiance
scorches all before it.
A wind is unchained from a giant painting of stillness
it runs through a hallowed valley of spinal awareness
charring the seen
until an exposure takes on the shape
of molten heat.
Now the one who looks
has broken through the tissue of perception.
Hop onboard overthinkers
A warm Welcome aboard the overthinker to all our guests,
Especially Mr insomnia, and Mrs overthinker, both frequent flyers and our VIP guests
I'll be your minds captain for this flight, through awake all damn night,
And then on to good mornings beaming bright resort in daylight,
We have no nap-overs or drifting-offs scheduled this is a long-ass-haul, direct flight,
Emergency exits are located in the right and left ear, emergency lights,
Are located along the optic nerve in case of loss of power,
We can also deploy an emergency slide down the nostrils should we encounter,
An emergency landing over the cerebrospinal sea,
Otherwise please fasten your seatbelts and enjoy tormenting this mind with me,
Dear passengers this is your captain speaking,
we are experiencing some frustration turbulence,
And some drowsiness daydreaming,
this is Likely to continue until 4am so please remain seated,
As our head is hitting head on, stormy pillow clouds, and alas
A tossing and turning tornado has formed in our flight path,
Forcing us to go around the temporal lobe which will mean a delay to our arrival,
Passengers you can now lift up your eyelids once the kettles foggy fog,
Has cleared you'll be able to see the sacred sea of coffee,
And as we loop around the kitchen island there shines a good mornings sunrise,
Passengers we have arrived at our destination, good morning,
Upon the irises horizon is the sunrise dawning,
Here the local time is 5am and the current temperature is about 36 degrees,
Welcome to our new guests and a warm welcome back to our 2 VIPs,
We hope you enjoy your stay here at the daytime resort,
Oh don't forget to checkout our duty free thoughts
On your way out, I've been your mind's captain
Remember time flies when you're having fun aboard this mental contraption
So hop aboard this mind if you are to an overthinker,
Lightning struck the vision, ripping up the sky,
flashed photo sensitivity upon the surface eye;
exploded on the retina with white electric rain,
spitting down the optic nerve, developed in the brain.
Then the synapse shuffle sparked both frightening and fine,
threw switches in the vertebrae, crackled in the spine;
infected in the blood stream, rhapsody and sting,
bade the veins expansion, made the plasma sing.
Muscles cramped delicious, agony so sweet,
charges on the derma from head down to the feet;
rapture swelled the lips, engorged and fit to blow,
love embraced conception as perfumed juices flow.
Powder keg of first sight detonated bright,
conducted sparks to fuses, set the world alight;
and images of ecstasy forever found a place
in the chambers of my heart and the look upon my face.