Paralysis poem and animation

 



It is 9 years since I made this video animation of my experience with paralysis, read by Greg, music by Greg. It is just as relevant today sadly. Paralydis is so much more tgan not being able to move.

http://www.holyway.co.uk/artist/index.html

Paralysis seems to capture my thoughts

And lasso them into an invisible plastic bubble

That floats formless in my mind.

I know inside what I want to say.

I can see you before me vaguely through dark staring eyes

Or sense your presence when lids are locked tight

Yet the words will not marshal themselves together

And I cannot make them comply with my will

So that they can come marching down to my mouth

They will not spill out into the world

To make coherent sense.

The lips lie fallow, unused.

They are numb.

They will not move.

The breath is shallow

Not enough breath then to give sound to the voice?

But no

It is more than this.

The thoughts, though perfect, whole and complete

Are stuck, as if in

Suspended animation.

There is no path for them to the outside world.

It has mysteriously vanished.

And you cannot know then

How sad I am

How distressed I am 

To be like this

Yet again

How much I need your contact

But cannot bear your physical presence

How amazingly interesting I am inside

Trapped

In this invisible

Tortured

Empty space

And how lonely

It is here

Stuck in a world that is completely inaccessible

No matter how near

Or easy it is for you

To access.

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