Sarah Stockton
IN WHICH I ATTEMPT METAPHORS IN CONVERSATION WITH MY DOCTOR
~ My heart is at the center
of a hybrid ecosystem. Consider
a tree
in which blood-sap ferries
the biotics
of essential energy
~ I am the ghost rider
of a virus that will live
longer
than my own beliefs
and which eviscerates
everything
~ all life
connected, circulating
brachia and vagus
permeating these lands
which are not
my ancestral ground
only
my temporary home
~ this fragile body
is floating on blood-borne waters
and I’m sinking
~ If the heart is
the center of the trunk of a tree
then my body
is a carved and weathered cedar boat
rocking in the wind’s wake
rocking
I rock myself to sleep