# Bruise Vision

Author: makyo
Tags: Hallucination, Poetry, mental health

#2 of Poetry

Maddy forgot her meds.

## I

**Geese level:** _Unnerving_ -- **Expect:** _anxiety_

A hundred geese overhead --  
    A thousand --  
        A million --  
  
Heady scent of premonition.  
Acrid tang of ill omens.  
Portents.  
Too much meaning  
    In too small a space.
* * *

## II

**Geese level:** _Noise-Canceling Headphones_ -- **Expect:** _auditory aberrations_

Geese are a byproduct of laminar shear stress  
    Of two layers of phantasmagorical  
        Newtonian fluids,  
    Which is why they're often seen on a plane.  
A thin, sort-of Truth  
    From a sort of thin layer  
        geese chromatography.
* * *

## III

**Geese level:** _Eldrich_ -- **Expect:** _red tint to vision; hot flashes_

As the dove bears the olive branch,  
    so to the goose bears the wand  
        that withers all it touches.  
A wand of nightshade,  
    Core of tainted silver.  
A wand of obscure origin,  
    The goose surely stole it.  
Malice begets malice.
* * *

## IV

**Geese level:** _Beyond Comprehension_ -- **Expect:** _confusion; nausea; sweating; racing pulse_

We know not the transgression,  
    the origin -  
We know not the punishment,  
    only the terror.
* * *

## V

**Geese level:** _Excruciating_ -- **Expect:** _pounding heart; tunnel vision; racing thoughts; black-outs; blood pouring from ears_

Geas  
    Wing  
        Dark  
            Horizon
* * *

## VI

**Geese level:** _Terrifying_ -- **Expect:** _tinnitus; piloerection; shortness of breath, uneven gait_

I'd rather owls.  
Owls, as though geese were turned inside out,  
    made less evil.  
Still portentous,  
    Still momentous,  
    Just less terrifying.  
Owls are okay.  
I can think about owls.
* * *

## VII

**Geese level:** _Uncomfortable_ -- **Expect:** _subdermal itching; formication_

Life within a comfortable grid.  
Parallel lines  
    Interrupting narrowing circles  
    Of birds in flight.  
Travel in straight lines.  
Turn at right angles.  
Trace the roof of your mouth  
    With wet tongue.  
  

  I'm not afraid of geese anymore  
    Because I can step on them now.  
I'm big enough.
* * *

## VIII

**Geese level:** _Birds_ -- **Expect:** _birds_

Ritual thinking  
    Driven by geese --  
    By lines, by grids, by food --  
    By numbers and neat delineation.  
And I'm left with questions:  
    Why are they so portentous?  
    Why the anxiety?  
Or maybe:  
    Did I take my meds this morning?  
  
Failing that,  
    Can I just have the comfort of prayer  
    Or the ecstasy of signs  
        Without the bleak paranoia  
        Over circling birds?

Source: https://sofurry.com/s/5nzJGOdn
Part of the series Poetry
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