{"id":4855,"date":"2015-11-21T23:22:41","date_gmt":"2015-11-21T23:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/?p=4855"},"modified":"2015-12-05T13:27:55","modified_gmt":"2015-12-05T13:27:55","slug":"bloodwork-and-quintessence-a-poem-by-joseph-armstead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/bloodwork-and-quintessence-a-poem-by-joseph-armstead\/","title":{"rendered":"Bloodwork and Quintessence. A Poem by Joseph Armstead"},"content":{"rendered":"

 
\n  
\nThe second hand sweeps the face of the clock,
\nsuddenly freezing
\nand
\nTime itself stops flowing In and Out,
\nbirthing impassive waves across the Weeping Ocean.
\n  
\nI am caught, locked, in the trembling grips of a nervous lull.
\n  
\nThere it is again, a pause,
\na space between the pounding
\nof bloody hammer on fleshy anvil,
\na searing heat
\nin my heaving chest,
\nheart thumping, rhythmic thunder,
\nan interruption of the pulse
\nof the scarlet lightning
\nthat sears my heart.
\nThere it is again.
\n  
\nI followed rumors and legendry,
\nromantic mysticism,
\nalong a trail
\nof passionate whispers
\nto your door,
\nall lusts lead to you,
\na magnet made of flesh,
\nI am caught in the pull
\nof your gravity,
\nand you sparked
\nnuclear fission
\nin the lead-lined chambers
\nof my atomic heart.
\nI followed the trail
\nof errant electrons,
\nquarks, leptons and mesons,
\ncolliding nucleii,
\nand in the subatomic fury
\nI saw your face merging with mine.
\nTogether.
\nMetapmorphosis.
\nMutation.
\nThe tyranny
\nof human need.
\n  
\nIt spills from a rent in the vein,
\nsolid\/insolid, fluidic components,
\nphysiological and biochemical,
\na Rorschach puddling on cold glass —
\ntake a basic metabolic panel,
\nanalyze the plasma for its
\nextracellular
\nmineral content, get a
\nprotein electrophoresis
\nand
\npolymerase chain reaction,
\nthen examine arterial blood gases…
\nIt is hard work,
\nthis divination
\nthrough haruspication,
\nreading dripping entrails
\nslowly going cold.
\n  
\nI am bound, caged, by anxiety filling the space behind broken seasons.
\n  
\nThere it is again, a pause,
\na hole piercing the ephemeral fabric
\nof the constant storm,
\na stutter in the unending howl
\nthat sizzles like molten magma
\ninside the cavity that holds my soul.
\nThere it is again.
\n  
\nThe second hand shudders and again begins its inexorable pass…
\n  
\nHow unlike
\nthe sprouting of a rose,
\na bleeding bouquet
\nborn of the pulse
\nof the scarlet lightning
\nthat sears my heart.
\nHow like a blossom
\nfrom a wound.<\/strong>
\n 
\n 
\n\"1196372998383oj4\"<\/a>
\n 
\nBIO<\/strong>
<\/strong>
Joseph Armstead is a suspense-thriller and horror author living in the United States’ San Francisco Bay Area. Author of a dozen short stories and ten novels, his poetry has been published in a wide range of online journals, webzines and print magazines. A mathematician, Futurist and computer technologist, Mr. Armstead’s poetry often defies easy description, but frequently includes neo-classical imagery, surrealist viewpoints and post-modern themes.<\/strong>
\n 
\n 
\nwww.facebook.com\/PoetryLifeTimes<\/a>
\nwww.facebook.com\/Artvilla.com<\/a>
\n robin@artvilla.com<\/a>
\neditor@artvilla.com<\/a><\/strong>
\nhttp:\/\/www.aquillrelle.com\/authorrobin.htm<\/a><\/strong>
\nhttp:\/\/www.amazon.com. All the Babble of the Souk. Robin Ouzman Hislop<\/a>
\nwww.lulu.com. All the Babble of the Souk. Robin Ouzman Hislop <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Share and Enjoy !<\/h3>
<\/i><\/span>Shares<\/small><\/div>
<\/i><\/span><\/a><\/span>\n<\/i><\/a><\/span>\n<\/i><\/a><\/span>\n<\/i><\/a><\/span>\n<\/i><\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>
<\/i><\/a><\/span>\n<\/i><\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The second hand sweeps the face of the clock, suddenly freezing and Time itself stops flowing In and Out, birthing impassive waves across the Weeping Ocean.   I am caught, locked, in the trembling grips of a nervous lull.   There it is again, a pause, a space between the pounding of bloody … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44,43],"tags":[18,136,3],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4855"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4855"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4855\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4903,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4855\/revisions\/4903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artvilla.com\/plt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}