{"id":705,"date":"2020-08-12T20:27:17","date_gmt":"2020-08-12T20:27:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/?p=705"},"modified":"2020-08-23T15:01:00","modified_gmt":"2020-08-23T15:01:00","slug":"gone-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/2020\/08\/12\/gone-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Gone Again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"500\" height=\"188\" src=\"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Lagos-1970s-e1597263915260.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-208\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Lagos-1970s-e1597263915260.jpg 500w, https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Lagos-1970s-e1597263915260-300x113.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/audio\/Malaria.m4a?_t=1597266690\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n\n\n<p class=\"fonts-plugin-block\" style=\"font-weight: normal;font-size: 15px;line-height: 1.2\"><strong><em>Malaria<\/em><\/strong><br>A fevertree sprouts, blooms full in my head<br>its canopy shoots limbs, which spike and spread.<br>Lightning thunderbolts through large and small veins<br>wraps legs, arms, and torso in rusted chains.<br>\u00a0<br>When lightning turns inside: it moltens blood:<br>my desert-dry nightmare dreams of a flood.<br>One moment blood boils, then turns to a freeze<br>next moment I\u2019m fetus-curled on my knees.<br>\u00a0<br>I drift away to my own Neverland<br>where I can\u2019t feel my toes: my legs won\u2019t stand.<br>I\u2019ve disappeared and I cannot return<br>stranded in bed, my Soul jumps to The Burn.<br>\u00a0<br>Inferno flames will encompass my night<br>devouring my will and my strength to fight.<br>My body falls backward, into the Void ~<br>plunges through space like a cell group, destroyed.<br>\u00a0<br>How can I explain my blood is on fire?<br>Igniting embers, creating a pyre.<br>Intermittently, my mind will awake<br>to my body\u2019s freezing, metallic ache.<br>\u00a0<br>I cannot speak as I lay in my bed<br>while lyrics and songs sing loud in my head<br>but I can\u2019t be heard<br>no, I can\u2019t be heard.<br>No one can see it and, still, no one hears<br>as my Consciousness slips through grinding gears.<br>\u00a0<br>Metal grows bolder and sits on my tongue<br>and I can\u2019t recall how that song was sung.<br>I watch flames flare on the back of my lids<br>surging to temps, which my body forbids\u2026.<br>\u00a0<br>I feel myself dying and lifting fast<br>is this breath the one that will be my last?<br>Awakened just now in a pool of sweat<br>I hear the whispers \u201cyour time is not yet\u201d.<br>\u00a0<br>Beg the end because I can\u2019t win this war ~<br>now I understand what those Prayers were for.<br>I walk and walk then I take off in flight<br>escape through the velvet of deep dark night.<br>\u00a0<br>Deep lies the darkness<br>and dark is my plight<br>gone, gone the moment<br>I could win this fight.<br>\u00a0<br>Bright shines the moonlight<br>it beckons me still\u2026<br>circle the wagons<br>and protect my will.<br>\u00a0<br>I die ~ then, I\u2019m born<br>again and again\u2026<br>\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>\u00a0<br>by Barbara Helvey Hughes, 2020<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":710,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705\/revisions\/710"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hughesgallery.net\/barbarahelveyhughes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}