Suffer for Your Art, Food, and Shelter.

Rows of corpses bloom

Planted with loving forethought

Green, then black, then gone

* * *

They found the lithopedion

baby accidentally with an x-ray

examination. She escaped their sharpened

attentions to find a quiet spot, one

hidden where she can puncture her

own abdomen, dragging surgical steel

through tissue…widening the incision

to accomodate alligator clips.

With trembling hands reaching

for the car battery and the calcified

fetus filling her vision as she imagines

the moment she can say:

IT'S ALIVE!

* * *

The mutilations will continue

unabated. Bandages are the

NEW

haute fashion accessory.

Tattoos are

replaced by scars.

letters and logos are carved into flesh

Translucent plastic permits them visibility.

A "proprietary" mix of b a c t e r i a promotes "healing."

We are our sponsors'

pain.

SUFFER

FOR

YOUR

ART,

FOOD,

AND

SHELTER.

==>the medium is your body is the message<==

* * *

She knocks on your door

in her undies and brassiere

then enters your home

She is from TV

but has no camera crew

and she will not leave

You would not summon

the authorities except

she scares your family

Cold children combust

in violent darkness still

disobedient

* * *

It all collapses

Despite being encircled

Within my embrace

* * *

Thank you for allowing my words to spend this time with you. If you want to read more please consider exploring my other writing available on Vocal+ or in bookstores. More of my photography can be found at https://johnlawson.zenfolio.com/.