Love in the time of thrombocytopenia
Petechiae
bloom
On
a terracota horizon
As
a stylus dipped in copper
Works
on the red spots
Star
picking coordinates of flesh
Among
dark wool thickets.
Gradually
A
s(k)in map emerges
From
the land locked sea of memories.
St.Joan
bares her
Virgin
nipples.
Throbbing
thrombocytes
Trickle
through
Wetting
parched gun mouths.
Thrombocytopenia is a disorder in which there is a relative decrease of platelets in the blood. Petechiae (pinpoint bleeds in the skin and mucous membranes) may occur on the feet and legs.(Other symptoms include bruising, particularly purpura in the forearms, caused by spontaneous bleeding under the skin;some individuals may experience external bleeding such as nosebleeds or bleeding gums; and women have heavier or longer menstrual periods.)
ReplyDeleteJeanne d'Arc was a 1th century illiterate peasant girl who, at 19, inspired and successfully led French troops against the English in the Hundred Years' War, was captured and executed on various charges of witchcraft and heresy (including that she wore men's clothing such as armor), and was burned at the stake. Several impostors emerged after the execution, including Claude des Armoises five years after the event, who even managed to get the support of Jeanne's brothers and was able to maintain the fraud quite profitably for years. A quarter century later the Catholic church debunked the charges against her, pronounced her innocent, and declared her a martyr; she was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920. In 1805 Pierre Caze claimed that she was the illegitimate daughter of the French queen, Isabeau of Bavaria, and Duke Louis of Orléans, thus making her the half sister of Charles VII, who received coronation as a result of her victories. In 1921, the anthropologist Margaret Murray argued that she was the "incarnate God" of a pagan witch cult derived from the worship of the virgin huntress Diana.
Great poem
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