The Embalmer
stich and stich
like patent leather
ties that bind the corpse together
indelicate and arbitrary
cardboard box incendiary
stuff the rags into the skull
and superglue the mandible
wrangle on the cadaver's clothes
and cart them off to funeral
caskets of homonculi
scratch from inside
I hear them weep
every day bodies defiled
eviscerate
intestines pile
the blood is hosed right down the drain
sew them up
apply the paint
deliberate
the butcher's thrust
hear them gurgle
decompressing guts
a symphony to us
almost finished for the day
the dying night comes our way
morning brings abandoned prey
all sorts and sizes
injected with formaldehyde
bone-saw the cranium
cut free the hide
scoop the brains
replace with stuffing
a touch of rouge
the carcass blushing
sealed in plastic, flagrant fumes
start the cinerarium
these gloves have seen
a slain simple nation
all endure my consecration
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Submitted on October 15, 2013
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 44 sec read
- 3 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBCCDDEDDFGFHIJKLMNDOPQQQRFSFTUVUWSXYY |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 842 |
Words | 145 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 39 |
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"The Embalmer" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/86579/the-embalmer>.
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