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July 22, 2024

Second CT Scan

By Christian Ward

Second CT Scan

My body is a museum of Victorian taxidermy:
A Senegal parrot dressed in a heat map of green,
orange, and yellow. A magpie tilting like the moon
on a branch covered in a psoriasis of lichen.
Stoats and weasels posed like intrepid explorers.
A venerable sparrow shedding its autumnal suit.
A king penguin crowned in dust. Hyenas laughing
over the state of my savannah. Dig deep to find
a Nile crocodile, almost flash frozen. Its sulphur
yellow eyes caught twitching before a surprise attack.
A barn owl glancing at the harvest mouse of tissue,
a sparrowhawk with a freshly caught goldfinch,
talons firmly dug into the kill. The wood pigeon
dulled with grief.







Article © Christian Ward. All rights reserved.
Published on 2024-01-08
Image(s) are public domain.
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