After the abrupt collision
with the blade, the Word,
I rest on the wood
block, my eyes
drawn back into their blue transparent
shells like mollusks;
I contemplate the Word.
while the rest of me
which was never much under
my control, which was always
inarticulate, still runs
at random through the grass, a plea
for mercy, a single
flopping breast,
muttering about life
in its thickening red voice.
Feet and hands chase it, scavengers
intent on rape:
they want its treasures,
its warm rhizomes, enticing sausages,
its yellow grapes, its flesh
caves, five pounds of sweet money,
its juice and jellied tendons.
It tries to escape,
gasping through the neck, frantic.
They are welcome to it,
I contemplate the Word,
I am dispensable and peaceful.
The word is an O,
outcry of the useless head,
pure space, empty and drastic,
the last word I said.
The word is No.
-- Margaret Atwood
