Malefic Echoes
As I lay getting an echocardiogram
(Breathe. Breathe--Hold!)
I watched the clock
(Exhale. Hold.)
And reflected on the malefic nature
(Tiny breath. Exhale. Hold!)
Saturn and Mars.
(Good. Breathe.)
The stable slowness of the hour
(Exhale. Hold. Just a little bit longer--)
and march of minutes carrying the black hands onward incrementally
(Breathe. Exhale. Hold. Small breath. Good. Exhale. Hold. )
as the red raced relentlessly forward, indifferent to the staccato of my lungs obscuring what drives me.
(Inhale. Hold. Exhale. Exhale. Hm. Tiny breath--Hold!)
Control and inward action only seen on the ultrasound as agitation in the muscles at such external stillness strained for a motion to match the tension.
(Hold!)
In this, the malefic makes things happen
(Breathe. Exhale. Hold. Good.)
but always at a cost.
(Breathe)


And just did one of these too, hope it went well!