Slides

Life like a slideshow, only not restricted to the visual sense
Smells
Tastes
Temperatures
Each slide lasting only moments before changing
Some barely glimpsed or felt
Others linger; a tree, a door, the wetness of rain, the smell of skin
Then blackness
Blackness that cannot be measured
A blackness of all senses
Disconnection absolute
A void

Then reality crashes into the show
An abrupt interruption
Dimness
Senses clipped and dulled, muffled
Slow and heavy limbs
Blurred vision
Flashes of the slides, the visions and the senses
Lifting my head
Opening my eyes
Moving so so slowly
An apartment
A sofa
A woman

Noise like a racket
Each sound a voice
Each one yelling and wailing and crying out
Crying out to me in a sea of sound
Rejoicing, bemoaning, demanding, pleading
And running
Runnning from the sound
Finding the most quiet space
Slowing my breathing to make my own breath silent

Slides and slides and slides and slides
Images and sounds and smells
Void
Too much light
Void
Too much noise
Void
A world without sound where mouths move
Tasteless textureless things in my mouth
Tightening stomach to heave over the toilet

Waking up
Waking up leaning against the back of the sofa
The woman
Her tears
Then falling back into the edge peacefulness
Just before the void