Phineas did not miss his job
pounding stakes into the ground.
He too, forgot who he was
and had to re-learn –
Here is business enough for you, they say Gage said –
his doctor, unbelieving.
He learnt to love the iron pin in the head.
What it did for his celebrity.
Maybe he liked the attention
which comes from being
an anomaly; a miracle of neuroscience.
I imagine in 1848
Cavendish needed some amazement.
It was just
another way to end
another work day;
Another way
our insolent brains
insist on
making us who we are –
lest we find ways to
shoot holes through them.
So – if you don’t like
the little voices,
or the static
or the chatter
in your head:
- Get a friend
- pack the TNT
- into a hole
- tamp down with metal rod
- bend over
5,4,3,2,1 Boom!
You’re started over.
Elisabeth Horan
Elisabeth Horan enjoys talking with animals and stargazing with tender humans. She can dance a decent cumbia and aspires to sing like Selena. She has recently been featured in The Feminist Wire, Anti-Heroin Chic, Quail Bell Magazine and Algebra of Owls. Elisabeth’s work aspires to give a voice to those who may be suffering alone and in pain. Elisabeth is a 2018 MFA Candidate at Lindenwood University and teaches at River Valley Community College in New Hampshire.
