The Maynard
Fall 2018

0:00

 

 

Re: Wards of the Crown

I object to you making their
dissection pseudonymic.

Permit at least the privilege
of their names, now that they claim

no other privacy—the skin
flayed and hung, the soul specimen-

bottled in formaldehyde. Does
an alias steady your hands

to the surgery, let your knife
anatomize in good conscience?

How can we cradle your pen-scrawl
catalogues of pathologies—

signs of fetal alcohol
on the musculature

of the pneuma; long-term neglect
along the periosteum

of the psyche; extensive scarring
of the noesis from repeated

court-ordered visitation,
full penetration—how can we,

without a name.