#futurepast #NaPoWriMo2021 #day12

 

Hygiea, if I

cut of my locks, lay them

at the foot of your statue, 

would you let me drink

from the serpent’s chalice? 

Cure me of all my ailments?

As Tempy* won’t give me a steaming

hot mug of fresh gladiatrix blood.

It's not too much to petition?

 

Slingshot through the wormhole,

dragged kicking through time and space

could I lose the meat puppet?

Download my consciousness,

into a cybernetic body.

Brain cootie free but unable to

enjoy coffee or croissants.

Not sure it's worth the trade?

*I have a friend**, Tempy who is a gladiatrix, as a side hustle, her day job is education officer in a Roman History museum.  I found out that a cure for epilepsy in antiquity was a pint of gladiator blood.

**Pfft if you can even call her a friend, you know if youth worker blood cured something that ailed her I wouldn't hesitate.

Prompt: "Past and Future.” This prompt challenges you to write a poem using at least one word/concept/idea from each of two specialty dictionaries: Lempriere’s Classical Dictionary and the Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction. A hat tip to Cathy Park Hong for a tweet that pointed me to the science fiction dictionary and to Hoa Nguyen for introducing me to the Classical Dictionary.

This was a very quick poetic noodling because it's been a busy day!  Was thinking about past and possibly future ways of controlling seizures.  Words used "Hygeia" and "Meat Puppet"