Melodramatic Fool

Reanimated

They sent you home a dead man
but forgot to put you in a box
so you'd know to stop moving
so you'd know to stop needing useless air
drawn in with keep calm-steady breaths.
They let you shuffle
like the living dead on those movies you watch
in the insomniac hours
before morning and after night;
but on three legs instead of two
you're no good
even as a zombie.

How fortunate you met the madman.

Mad genius, mad scientist
your Dr. Frankenstein
he fills you with a living man's blood
whenever he lets you stand near
injects you with adrenaline
with every word from his needle-sharp tongue.
His thoughts spark between your neurons
and he is your living Tesla coil
restarting your heart
with the lightning touch of his hand.
His gaze on you slams against your chest
like defibrillator paddles
shock jolting through your body
each time your eyes meet his;
when he speaks, you hear:

Rise
Rise up and walk. Rise up and run!

and, because it's him
you do.

(dvad 8-2-11)