| it
starts with the failure of speech _ a swelling in the throat _ a pushing
upwards _ a suffocating wave _ no voice _ no breath _ fear and panic _ the
jaw unhinged _ teeth laid flat, un-cutting _ immobilised tongue _ lips pulled
tight _ stretched to splitting _ hard as wire _ eyes made slits _ cheeks
made stone _ wet with straining tears _ expulsion, exhalation of flesh _
the birth _ the release _ followed by the pushing scream _ the final unthinkable
act _ teeth biting down on the cord _ severing the self from the self _
your re-mobilised tongue _ clothed in blood _ pushing the remnant stump
to the brink of your throat _ to be swallowed, healed _ speech returns,
in a sighing, murmuring _ words, language, song _ the need to express _
no witnesses. |