Magnetic Travels

By Anonymous

Resonating, familiar routine without
hesitation – the machine calls out.
Waves unseen yet absorbing me, calculating –
almost tangible waves are audible
keeping time, tempo, inside this cylinder.
Frenetic knock-a-bout increasing, growing louder
in my body, mind…my imagination.
Anxiety, rapid heartbeat, quick in breath – BREATHE,
focus, relax, BREATHE…
Eyes wide shut –

Thump, thump, thump – tic, tic, tic – buzz, buzz, buzz
A rave or a deafening techno concert is
where I am – well, in essence – both in sound and feeling.
Side to side, up and down movements
frantic, all consuming, magnetic in the diagnostic
travels within me, around me…and the machine.
Reluctant to participate, resigning myself to
claustrophobic games of scientific peer pressure,
I blend in…
I have no choice –

Click, click, click – beep, beep, beep – knock, knock, knock
I imagine an image, anxious imagination
spinning, acting out over something beyond
my control in the first place! Traveling annually
with magnets is brief – merely a day-trip, yet mandatory.
Dazzling images reveal a side of me unbecoming, conflicting
with a portrait of exquisite normalcy – visible, outwardly seen by all.
Infuse my color with contrast – enhance, magnify, prove.
And it is proven – according to the magnets, my motionless travels
within this cylinder…
and their intimate pictures of me –

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