Phantom/Pantoum
I lurch toward the bathroom, gelatinous,
dissolve into stark white ceramic.
The clot slides from my body; an unlikely plop.
I wonder if I am dying.
Dissolve into stark white ceramic
with the crack of skull, a slap of skin on tile.
I wonder if I am dying, floating
borderless, an unanswered question.
The crack of skull, a slap of skin on tile.
My face pale as the porcelain toilet bowl,
floating borderless, an unanswered question
seeps like a scab, bright red and yolky.
My face pale as the porcelain toilet bowl.
The nurse, fuzzy, drawn in cross-hatching
seeps like a scab, bright red and yolky.
I wonder if I am dying.
Megan Cartwright is an Australian college teacher and poet. Her work has appeared in Arteidolia Press’ Swifts&Slows, Authora Australis, Blue Bottle Journal, Meniscus Journal, October Hill Magazine, and oddball magazine. She also has poems due to feature in upcoming issues of Fatal Flaw, Tabula Rasa Review, MONO, and Quadrant Magazine.
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