The Negotiating Table: (Inspired By Mona Hatoum's Performance Piece,1983) Poem by DM W

This room is stark and
ominous.Yet it can still
stir, some of us from,
zero states of consciousness.
Curious eyes
scan for traces of existence.
Curious minds seek
to know more about conflict
and not less.Unmoved
spectres are ever watchful.
O this room is dark,
lit only by a light bulb
over a table,
on which the probing artist
lies still/ motionless!
Empty chairs surround the table.
The artist's body
is clearly bloodstained, covered with
entrails. Her body
is tightly wrapped in plastic.
And surgical gauze
seems to cling leech-like to her
head and countenance.
As the eerie soundtrack plays,
in the blind, frenzied
background, droning, deceitful
voices can be heard. Each voice
appears to merge with
all the others, endlessly,
in maddening loops,
signifying nothingness.