For years, they tried to fool proof myself
Scientists in a lab
The coats
The computers
The spectacles
I, The Spectacle
When I wasn’t blinded by
The pervasive light overhead
Softly spoken schematics
and directives overheard
A dark room and haze
Filled in around me
I could feel it
Compressing the air surrounding
It whispered
I murmured
As my skin boiled
my brain prodded
my lungs inflated
my eyes twitched
my teeth rattled
my tongue flapped
my bones fractured
my spine curled
my glands secreted
my nostrils retreated
my hair wilted
my voice dried
my lips desaturated
my nerves faded
Coarse leather straps and a metallic buckle,
The coldest thing in the room,
Slid across a molting layer of skin
“It is complete.”
Were the only words spoken
Later, I stood.
First step
Engineered
Bullet proof, air tight and
The miracle of science
Second step
“Plit, plit”
Red splatters visible
In front of my feet
Third step
My perfect hand
To my chest
Evident, indeed.
The scientists forgot to patch
A single leak.
Fourth step
Non-existent
The miracle of neglect