Boudica in the shadows
by Steven McCabe
I was happy with being unhappy the way things were.
Existing on eggs & meat
with the occasional organic chocolate bar.
I raised the giant light bulb I stole from the Pop Art exhibition
on my 70th birthday,
standing on one of the portable full-length machines
(noticing it was unplugged & unattended)
& trying to not lose my balance.
GET THEE HENCE!
Return to your dignified echo chambers
with your legal formulas, checklists & ventriloquism!
Return to your dignified echo chambers
with your legal formulas, checklists & ventriloquism!
They looked at me.
LET THERE BE LIGHT!
They looked at me.
When I said, ‘Let there be light,’ I saw Boudica in the shadows.
She had traveled a great distance.
She carried some kind of lantern or 3-dimensional illumined manuscript.
I climbed down from the machine.
She said, ‘You should drink chicory coffee.
I’m a shadow of what I was.
You should ride with us.
Is the water safe to drink?’
A flame flickered in her ear and disappeared up the ear canal.