John Patch, Rougemont House, Exeter, 1788
Engraving: Ezekiel Abraham Ezekiel, after John Opie
Cementing your credentials with your conversational charm
Applying the splanchnic practice: Anatomized post-mortem harm
John Patch
A double-hose from an oxygen chamber,
the plugged-up nose of a posthumous maimer
John Patch
Prostrate with the vapours, a scrap of humanity
displayed on a table with a scented handkerchief
Lex Talionis: Punishment by degree,
the code of retaliation corresponding to the injury
John Patch
A double-hose from an oxygen chamber,
adopting the pose of a Cosmic Ranger
John Patch
Patching me into your Pittsburgh Modular,
synthesized riffs all squibbly and globular
The room in which you were born
looks into the ditch of Rougemont Castle
You converted that foul ravine
into the delightful spot it now is
John Patch
Big white buns either side of your brain-pan,
your breathing machine makes you look like a spaceman
John Patch
Patching me up like a human duvet,
hands all covered in Oil of Ulay
John Patch
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sources:
‘Dissecting the Criminal Corpse’ by Elizabeth T. Hurran
’Space Ranger’ by Isaac Asimov
‘These Old Shades’ by Georgette Heyer
‘The Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital’ by J. Delpratt Harris M.D.
from Bring on the Crémant