"Living, Breathing, Industrialized Fear"
by Benjamin Fortier (Dedicated to Robert Mobley)
Author’s note: This is a poem I wrote after hearing a really wild story about a guy that was lucid during his time in a coma. His story moved me quite immensely, as you might be able to tell in the poem. And by moved, I mean I was shitting my pants in fear. Enjoy!
Trapped inside the body Comatose In the 3rd dimension Under surgical operation In an attempt to save His fragile life. The nightmares loop Time is a shattered illusion Nothing makes sense In a linear perspective. Has he been here for hours? Maybe it’s been days? There is no waking up From this lucid Hell. He stands in the green fields Sweat dripping from the Tip of his nose. He weeps as the insidious laughter arises He holds his daughter’s hand And gently guides her towards the Whirring machine. She reels in fear and panic As he pushes the white cloth away And reveals the mashing teeth Grinding cogs And exhausts fuming thick Black wisps of smoke. Legs first He howls as he lifts her up And feeds her into the machine It jolts as the first gearwheel pulls down And tears into her leg. She screams out He covers her mouth and watches as the apparatus Turns her into pink sludge. The sun beats down It feels so real in this comatose dream The smell of sickness is in the air Piles of vomit adorn the freshly cropped grass Demons surround him They bear the resemblance of the little girl He just put into the food processor. They too are shoving the innocent little ones Into the belly of the machine. There is no escape from these acres of metal And industry. Millions of daughters Millions of demons Millions of miles of The Fear Machine Another innocent daughter comes up to him Unaware of the plight Of her doppelgangers She gently puts her hand in his. He walks towards the machine with Eyes red and dry – no tears remain. Everything in his body begs him to turn away He lifts her up, and places her into the Whirling gears. He covers the sides of his head As she begins to scream again.
Native Rhode Islander and proclaimed Renaissance Man, Iraq veteran Benjamin Fortier is a multi-talented writer, musician, and technology geek. He is currently in school (again) studying computer networking and cybersecurity. His day job is in service to his rescue dog, Princess Peppa Pig the American Bully. He is the author of Stones of the Wooded Valley and The Silent Whispers of Omens.
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If you give monkeys enough time, can they really write Hamlet? How did Leon Trotsky actually react to finding an axe embedded in his head? What does it take for two strangers to fall in love without screwing it up? Are you having a bad day or are you simply stuck in a "Philadelphia"? The VetRep 2022 season of staged readings kicks off with an evening of fast and funny staged readings featuring the whimsical comedy of David Ives.
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