Michaela Gabriel

043
Technetium (Tc)
     diagnosis

it's not
as simple as
light : mother : here
on this slab : no sun could reach that deep :
it takes a different frequency : to cut through patina & tight nuclei :
     to pull up strings of numbers & facts : ribbons of
snapshots : you & me : me versus you : you minus me : wayward

daughter : obedient child : more than the sum of stretch marks on
     your skin : beams scan body : how this reminds me
of love : the wars we skirt : i will rise & find this : a portrait of me
as woman : more than an echo : not you :
despite all the ghosts
alive in my
bones

053
Iodine (I)
     katharsis

on edge :
fists covet the
quicksilver speed of
kicks : needles seeking out the fullness
of balloons : riotous fingers having their way with knots : tilt
     the pitcher : sideways : off-centre : toward tragedy :
release the stranglehold : the grip on unwavering questions :

what is the meaning of hairline cracks : a swipe at the neck :
     of sin : speak in tongues : scream fever : sing blue
into amaranthine : into scarlet : tempt purity : hold a match
to blood : illuminate a dramatic alphabet :
the great conspiracy of
oxygen pity
& fear