Tony Schanuel
Disassociating
Eyes search cerulean blue
skies seeking some semblance
of reciprocity. The message on
the air sounds like a warning: you
are alive like the birdcalls of robins,
the bright lemon-yellow
fruits low-hung from tree boughs, the citrus
perfume dusting the wind.
I bicker with the breeze: I am
disassociating.
I remember when I became aware
of my naked finger. Someone had carved
a piece out of it like tree bark. Your initials—
whittled and chiseled and hacked,
haphazard edges and slant lines.
This is my body, but it is no longer
my body. I do not remember where
I was born. I cannot recall the phases
of the moon, the planetary positions at play
in my birth chart. The white cream shades
of my crib, the foghorn boom of voices,
the sticky-sweet scent of pear
cut into cubes. This is my body, but it is not
my body. My hands shake
like tremulous, wind-torn leaves,
quivering from drought. My skin breathes,
contracts, and folds until
it is parched,
desiccation cracks crunching
underneath invisible feet that tread on me: a ghost.
Cianna Garrison is a freelance writer who resides in Southern California. Her fiction and poetry have appeared in Whatever Keeps The Lights On, The Whisky Blot, and Welter. She loves to act, read, and craft. She’s also a cat lady for life. Follow her on Twitter @Cianna_Garrison.
Tony Schanuel is an award-winning photographer and visual artist who has fused a professional background in photography, digital technology ,and painting and mark making to create fine art that transcends those mediums. His work has been featured in Digital Imaging Magazine, Computer Graphic Magazine, Wild Heart Journal, St. Louis Design Magazine, and is a featured artist in Cyber Palette and Extreme Graphics, two books showcasing digital artists and their work. He has exhibited at the Florence Biennale and his art is held in private and corporate collections including the Fine Arts Museum of Houston permanent photographic collection. http://www.schanuelphoto.com/.