Contents -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Alfred Kreymborg, ed. Others for 1919. 1920.

Evelyn Scott

The Red Cross

ANTISEPTIC smells that corrode the nostrils

Crumble me,

Eat me deep,

And my garments disintegrate.

First my nightgown,

Leaving my naked arms and legs disjointed,

Sprawled about the bed in postures meaningless to the point of obscenity.

My breasts shrivel,

The nipples drawn like withered plums

To the eyes of the bright young nurse.

I am nothing but a dull eye myself,

An eye out of a socket,

Bursting,

Contorted with hideous wisdom.

Eye to eye we fight in the death throes,

Myself and the young nurse.

Her firm crisp aproned breast leans toward the bed

As she smoothes the rumpled pillow back

With long cool fingers.