The Doctor’s Monster
Father?
She wakes up
on a slab
with the doctor
hovering over her
with a probe
& she knows that
she is composed
of scraps of
other human beings
sutured together
& that electricity
is somehow involved,
as are the flasks
in the lab that catch
the half-light
that falls through
the barred basement windows.
She has the impulse
to flee out-of-doors,
run naked
through the tree-lined streets,
maybe meet some
friendly villagers,
but when she tries to sit up,
she finds she’s
restrained hand & foot
by leather straps.
For your own good,
intones the doctor,
who knows a lot more about
villagers
than his monster does.
by Eileen Murphy, first appeared in Dark Ink: A Poetry Anthology Inspired by Horror, Moon Tide Press, 2018.
Editor’s Note: This poem feels like a certain kind of horror right up until the end where the emotional punch of the true monstrosity is revealed.
Leave a Reply