EMDR
By Patrick Wright
light-emitting diodes
left
left
eyelids propped open with matchsticks
hours since he sent me to file my cabinets
a cricket wicket ricocheted to slice my eye
a garden roller sprung back to knock me flat
a lathed splinter wedged under my fingernail
a dentist’s gas mask heart beat to blackout
then discharge the ward car park
whatever he’s done carries on subliminal
through sleep behind rapid eyes
before I blink he opens his bag of tricks
hours since
he left me with a reel of accidents
reprogrammed me behind the scenes
I rank my traumas
left with the clown that invaded my dreams
when mother was replaced with a changeling
when my love collapsed in the Lake District
another hammer-blow and the ice will give
sliding
right
right
for homework
Patrick Wright has a poetry collection, Full Sight of Her (Eyewear), which was nominated for the John Pollard Prize. His poems have appeared in Poetry Ireland Review, The North, Poetry Salzburg, Agenda, and London Magazine. His second collection, Exit Strategy, will be published by Broken Sleep Books in 2025.