"The Nightmare: Oil on Canvas, Henry Fuseli, 1781" by Paul Tran

The Nightmare: Oil on Canvas, Henry Fuseli, 1781

by Paul Tran

Too hot to

rest, I toss

my arms off

the bed. My night-

gown wet with

sweat. I feel you

— a sack of

scavenged skulls

on my chest

— sipping

the salt from

my breasts. Imp.

Incubus. Im-

pulse. You and

me like a mare

that must be

broken in

by breaking in-

to. Tamed is

how fire is

by giving itself

something to destroy:

it destroys it-

self. But who

can deter-

mine what’s inside

another?

What is risked

when we enter    ...    

Caliper. Forceps.

Scalpel. Oculus.

Perhaps you’re

the wilderness

that waits with-

in me. Perhaps an

other mystery, I

open beneath

you. Yoked. Harnessed.

Paralyzed.

At once a-

wake and a-

sleep. I nay.

I knock

over the kerosene

lamp. Light of

the rational

mind snuffed. Shadow

of shadows.

Because I can’t

see, I sense.

Your thumb

thrumming

my mouth. A

command. Arch-

angel. Vision

of invasion.

Insemination.

My horse

heart beating

with yours.

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