Persephone’s Pizza Attack by Imé Corkery
Commissioned by Ōtepoti Writers Lab.
Persephone’s Pizza Attack by Imé Corkery
I.
doorbell rings
12-inch black pizza box
centred on the coco coir welcome mat
pizza delivery
straight from Hell
veggie pandemonium
dairy-free mozzarella
quorn laced in
pomegranate sauce
her mouth salivates
between bites an orgasmic
biological reaction
builds
to a
fire chase pulse
neon nausea
upper abdominal level-10 pain
body folds like calzone
rocks back & forth
self-soothes
forth & back
thinks she’s dying
from a pizza-precipitated acute pancreatic attack
god she nauseous
wails help
her words
drip slowly
help god mum help
Persephone believes she’s dying
lies on the laminated floor
& purges pain into Cerberus’ bowl
aged 25
speed-dialling her mum
Demeter speed-dials St. John’s
even the Goddess of the Harvest
can’t assist their daughter
headed for the medical underworld realm
II.
ketamine & oxy
travel cardiovascular threads
a hell of an infusion
as the room rapidly recedes
real hell of an infusion
when all she’s left with is a hospital bed
total hell of an infusion
bed becomes raft
past
breathless black beech trees
past
pantone pink rhododendrons
past
anorexic goats watch colicky cattle cry
until she shipwrecks
at the portentous palace of white
physicians’ eyes open & shut
laboratory results they open
patient symptoms they shut
staff-only doors
hide
toxic emotional waste
cut-throat progression
sleep deprivation
emotional exhaustion
fanged mermaids swim
& swim
& swim
12-hour shifts
blood nipped
from Persephone’s fingertip
snip
a lock of hair
to investigate
if her family tree brought her here
III.
Persephone’s world flares
Demeter’s spring poppet
captive
in hospital hades
mermaids’ fins wrap
Persephone’s balding arm
the fins inflate
blood flow stalls
then the sphygmomanometers let go
& bile
& pancreatic juices plug up
tethered
to IV bags of fluid
& bile
& pancreatic juices bung
3 months a year
90 spirallings of the supernova sun
270 attempted meals
vitamin-d deficient eyes
she lies
entombed in fluorescents
they lift her shirt
every 24 hours
to monitor
the crescent moon that cuts across her abdomen
while her blockage
imprisons
with recurrent pancreatitis incursions
hours on waitlists pass
& bile
& pancreatic juices distend the congestion
iv.
at midnight
the pain is at its zenith
she hears
the whistling of winter
Demeter searches
pages upon webpages
facebook groups
& reddit threads
works
a 2nd job to pay
another specialist consult
another
$100, $200, $300 miracle release pill
emails bank managers requesting 2nd mortgages
another experimental treatment
in hope
of freeing her poppet
for another day
or at least 12 daylight hours more
v.
physicians serve
teaspoons
of mad honey
determined to
slow Persephone’s systolic rate
& interfering questions
while science strives
to snare & settle a result
at least the underworld has wi-fi
Persephone Zooms Demeter
while eating pomegranates
reports
there’s been no progress
eats pomegranates
& reports
there’s been no progress
eats pomegranates
& reports
there’s been no progress
pancreatic agony persists
the physician knows what it is
but science lags
& progress retreats
vi.
persistent Persephone
lays down after another month
another celestial consult
another specialist assessment
another pre-surgical brief
she understands half the jargon
utilising the wi-fi
posts her frustration
proffers tips to women she’ll never meet
on how to maintain strength
when it’s too painful to eat
Persephone preaches
the truth of sick young women
who take lifts instead of the stairs
ambulatory wheelchair warriors
compassionate fierce heroines
ruling their kingdoms
bound in bed
part-time-underworld-patron Persephone
transmutes
story weaver
realm traveller
memory carrier
awareness torch-bearer
witnesser of disquiet underworlds unseen
inquisitor
charging hope
for remedy
a cure
an elixir
an antidote
to the peril of chronic protracted apathy
