AUTOPSIA POEMATIS (AUTOPSY OF A POEM)

By Dorian Nightingale

Body-bagged. Toe-tagged. A

cadaver-stanza knitted together

by a Hagedorn pen-needle. Note

how the wrist-rolling action

of its bevel-tipped nib Is

interwoven into this skin-thin, grey-

pallid paper.

See the carefully threaded word placement. Look

how this semi-colon has been clamped; each

syllable of sibilance strategically spun.

Observe the contracture of the syntax.

Rigor mortis within its grammar. Document the dead

lines, nylon-twined— the finalized rhyme hemmed by

monofilament thread.

For the record:

this corpse-poem has been sutured shut.

Finished.

Anchor-stitched.

Sealed by this final full stop.

#DarkPoetsClub