Trephination
by Ennie Gloom
“Tell me where it hurts,”
we say in unison,
lying next to each other
in your twin bed.
You insist you must be first,
it’s an emergency.
You point to your stomach,
and I know to lean my ear against it.
I repeat your sounds,
ask you to translate.
Once you’ve had your fill,
I point to the middle of my forehead.
I want to drill a hole into my skull,
so the pressure can be released
and crash into the ceiling.
When I was a child,
I watched my father beat a hammer onto his thumb.
It grew black and pulsed.
He then took a drill and stuck it into his fingernail;
dark blood shot up and
we both craned our necks to watch it.
I lean into your hand
as you place it on my cheek.
Your skin is warm and
your palms are calloused,
and this is a place to rest.
When my eyes begin to close,
you shoot your tongue into my ear.
Your saliva muddles with my brainstem
as you say,
“you should try spending some more time alone.”
When you remove yourself,
you cradle your head.
You say it’s pounding,
that you’ve caught my sick.
I apologize profusely,
apologize for apologizing too much.
The words are all that spill now
as I beg you to lay back down.
I stick my own tongue into your ear,
“This will help, I promise.”
It tastes bitter, and it stings a little,
but there’s a sweetness when I dig further.
It surprises me how nice it feels
to let my tongue leave me.
I push past your eardrum
and lick at the sides of your skull.
When I arrive at your brain,
I’m not shocked by its rot.
You’re teeming with decay,
but I’m convinced that I can clean you.
It’s a furious affair,
polishing this poison,
lapping up all of your anger,
but I’m certain
I’m the one to do it,
no matter the bellyache.
You ask me to stay here for a little while,
saying this may do the trick.
I say “Of course,”
that we’ll spend the time alone together.
ABOUT THE CREATOR
Photo credit: Marie Canale
Ennie Gloom (she/her) is a writer and Scorpio based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. Her writing has been featured in yolk, Soliloquies Anthology, Headlight Anthology, The Encore Poetry Project, and more. She is currently working on her first book of poetry.
@enniegloom on Instagram.