Saturday 6 July 2013

Primitive

He lays me on his couch,
its okay he says and he
soothes me with his velvet voice
and then somehow
I’m swinging through the trees,
huu-hooing, huu-hooing...

I feel history in my bones,
equilibrium rent so so long ago
as new world punctuates
that of the old, the old the primitive.   
DNA revolutionised,
not now content 
with mere existence, evolutionised,
I am inquisitive. 

We have him now, colobus,
crashing screaming to the ground
and I, Alpha, take first pick,
tear him limb from limb,
sink teeth deep into his flesh... 

He brings me out of it.
my past that is,
but the memory does not fade,
is not forgotten. 

Well, I didn’t expect that he says
(with a grin I recognise as fear). 
Maybe your ancestors are the missing link
he wonders out aloud. 
No doc I reply, look out there;
look at the primitives who roam
the streets arms hanging limp,
as if some roaming hunting ape,
savage, strutting,
uttering guttural sounds 
to intimidate those who (attempt 
to) rise above dark ancestry, become civilised.  
We are all the missing link I say.

He is afraid, still, and I see
red pools on shirt and floor,
he grimaces as he holds bleeding wrist
and terrified, I taste blood upon my lips.  

I am primitive.  
I am madder than I think.

Anna :o]

The excellent Brian Miller is hosting tonight at dVerse and the theme is puzzles, crosswords, jigsaws, anything we find puzzling.  The 'missing link' sprang to mind…

Oh and as the prompt is puzzles, here is a puzzle for you:  If it took a psychiatrist 19 minutes to INTERVIEW me, 16 of those minutes to DIAGNOSE my problem, how long did it take him to have me *SECTIONED?

*  Sectioned (detaining or sectioning) = involuntary commitment.

Image: courtesy of Wikimedia Commons   
Author: Christopher Walsh, Harvard Medical School.

27 comments:

Brian Miller said...

ooo fresh take..vivid too...i think some are far less evolved than you think...more tearing each other limb from limb...we are all the missing link...interesting..ha arent we all a bit mad...smiles...

cool write...yikes on the commitment...have been there with a few of the kids i work with....

Anonymous said...

I liked this very much, well beyond it having to do with the puzzle prompt. That delving into the primative we all have in us...>KB

Mary said...

I enjoyed your original perspective here. I think we all have a bit of the primitive in us, whether or not we admit to it easily. There is a lot of unexplainable in humans that PUZZLES even the most knowledgeable.

Heidi said...

Anna, you are brilliant with imagery. It is savage here. I love your writing! hugs!

grapeling said...

this carries a true scent, and taste.

Claudia said...

i too think we all have a bit of that primitive in us, we hide it well usually and sometimes we camouflage it with strange costumes... some of them give even riddles to a good psychiatrist me thinks...

Anonymous said...

very skillful and vivid. love the ending!
~Miriam

Scarlet said...

Love the primitive turn ~ We are the missing link or not, I don't really know as we have really gone off tangent ~ But always there is savagery and madness that is not easily forgotten ~

kelvin s.m. said...

...19mins? --- lol... poor guessing... hihi... i loved this Anna... we are the missing link... the one we run after every centuries... & no one gets to solve the missing for none of can live a centuries old to meet that other half of us... that other version of our mad self... we can only live today & die tomorrow... then live again to start another batch of running & searching with the littlest of hopes to meet in between times... smiles... excellent take Anna...

Janine Bollée said...

Don't know whether to laugh or cry...
Your writing is always so powerful.

Susan said...

OWoooo, ooo, ooo! A flash fiction, and a surprise! Smooth leaps of finesse, attractive narrative mind, and an ending that satisfies.

Consider, however, if she has become like everyone else, who is the mad one here? I worry about that sometimes, like, would I want to survive?

LaTonya Baldwin said...

Girl, you just plain rock!

Truedessa said...

I am primitive..we all are a bit primitive..the missing link perhaps or something more. This was really creative and I think we all walk the ledge of insanity at certain points in the journey.

Myrna R. said...

Some hypnotic therapy session you had there. You go beyond returning to your roots, you go to the depth of your soul, as we all should. If we do, the missing link comes to life. Really nice piece. Enjoyed reading it.

Anonymous said...

Oh Anna I absolutely love this! That last line especially =)

The new prompt is up if you are interested =)

brudberg said...

We are all the missing link.. I love that. The primitive in us we all forget.

And tearing limb from limb... O certainly there can be tension there sometimes.

Anonymous said...

Awesome read from beginning to end!

Anonymous said...

Wow! This was totally unexpected. Very vivid! But... I mean... wow!

kaykuala said...

A primitive stance can be a great thing if it can counter the 'progressive' generation who appear lost. Nicely anna!

Hank

Jennifer Wagner said...

This is savage and intense. Great ending!

Optimistic Existentialist said...

LOVE the originality of this post. Quite a unique take here. I do agree that we all have a primitive within us...but some of us constrain it better than others lol.

Madeleine Begun Kane said...

Wow, vivid and intense!
Madeleine Begun Kane

Dave King said...

Superb! Brilliantly thought out. You Tarzan, me Jane! (I think - it would be interesting at any rate!) Love it.

hyperCRYPTICal said...

Thank you for your kind and welcome comments folks.

I did intend to respond earlier and write more, but as is increasingly happening of late - real life gets in the way.

I do believe we are all harbouring the primitive beast within us - I know 'she' exists in me...

Susan - I too wonder if mad people are same and 'sane' people are mad...

Dave - Lets!

Anna :o]

Uma Anandane said...

It fits the prompt quite well ! Liked it :)

Gina Gao said...

This is such a nice take! Thanks for sharing this.

www.modernworld4.blogspot.com

Jenny Woolf said...

"Regressing" under hypnosis is an interesting experience. We all have the ability to imagine more than we know.