Tunnel Vision
A chart to read double length from a mirror
through iron frames a Tudor lord might wear,
or an alchemist. A lens turning at a finger’s click
to optimise the red or green, the zigzag.
Then the artillery, firing air at an eyeball
to measure the pop of pressure, the smoke signal.
Don’t blink. Next, forehead on a plastic bar;
a button to press each time I see a light,
pinpoint the quick moment of each star.
‘Have you noticed any deterioration of sight?’
They dazzle me with their instruments. The surgery
turns black, an after image, compensatory.
Twice a day I pull my lower lid,
expose the watery pink, flinch at the dropper.
The stuff stings. It’s supposed to do me good.
My eye’s distorted; it may be glaucoma.
A technicality. Two drops a day
will stop it in its tracks, or so they say.
What have I got to lose?
A wider point of view. Nuances
of recognition. The sidelong glance.
A sudden move in the shadows,
a curtain’s flick. A different vision.
Life will be straightforward from now on.
Page(s) 23
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