My heart lands hard as
It drops with a THUD on
The diaphragm drum
In the dim of my chest.
Initial impact.
Then, it beats.
DU.
DU.
DU.
DU.
Titanic timpano
Suddenly solos
Alone center stage.
Walloped in time,
The timpano beats.
As nausea nudges
The drum’s underside—
Just as my heart sounds
With sickening strikes—
I quickly suppress
The rhythmical rumbles,
These pounding vibrations,
So low,
So dark,
Unnervingly deep.
With huge bubble wrap
I buffer the beats,
Encase in entirety the
Lumbering drum
Shockingly fast!
So many layers!
Enshrouding the drum,
I muffle the thumps.
I block out the beat that
Pounds low in my chest.
I use the whole roll,
I wrap on the layers,
And squeeeeze!
A crackling, compulsive,
Plastic pops chorus
ERUPTS
In frantic intrusion.
I wrap and I squeeze—
Crackle and shatter!
I wrap and I squeeze
Over and over.
Wrap squeeze
PRRRRRRRRRAP!
WrapWrapWrapSqueeze
PRRRRRRRRRAP!
My attempt to drown out
The first painful cadence
Starts sounding in time,
Despite my best efforts.
The wrap, the squeeze,
The shatter, the crackle—
Meant to drown out, but
Instead variate the
Theme driving the drum,
So low,
So dark,
Unnervingly deep.
This song only starts
When I’m on stage alone.
What will unfold if
It plays to the end?
Pure
True
Pain
DU.
How brave can I be?
Can I let the drum beat?
What will become of
The lumbering drum—
Naked, unshielded,
Exposed as it beats?
DU.
DU.
DU.
DU.
What
Will happen
To me?
The Drum and the Bubble Wrap
—
by