Working Title: Innards Poem by Midnight Clarity

I did not feel fear when
pain grabbed me by the chest
shook air out of my lungs,
triggered the sluice gates of my pores
releasing thick, cold sweat in waves
down my face and shoulders.
My stomach clenched, my bowels coiled uneasily
my mind’s eye opened, took a look
saw something wrong then suddenly
the brain that shaped my life
for more than nineteen thousand days,
bypassed all those parts of me that are polite,
don’t make a fuss, don’t bother anybody,
the parts that feel and think,
and went to work, flexing muscles, articulating joints, stretching and contracting tendons to pull my body to its feet,
setting a wavering course around the counter
across the room where lips and breath and tongue
built simple words, “don’t feel good” and pushed them out on to the air
for other ears to catch and process
then my body sat, my mind’s eye watched
as my brain directed all its parts, all my parts
in the eternal dance so seldom seen
that keeps the spark alive and I,
I felt no fear; I just sat and let my body breathe.