A wondering wanderer

David Ellis '08, English 65, The Cyborg Self, Brown University (Spring 2005)

I am momentarily distracted by the serene landscape: calm water flowing through lush greenery and flowers. My eyes then refocus on strings of woven plastic balanced a centimeter from my eyeball. Although the mesh only partially obscures my vision of the backlit display of natural scenery, it reminds me that I am not reclined by a riverside. I am prone, but the sun does not warm my

body . . .

body, strapped to a cold, hard metallic surface by a cage-like facemask, in a room surrounded by impenetrable walls with a foot-thick

door . . .

door to match. The silence is abruptly broken by a piercing whine, almost pitchless because its overtones are so varied, so loud. I blink and see flashes of thin, gray-blue

lightning

, barely contrasting the

darkness

beneath my eyelids.

I moan, modulating the pitch to form melancholy harmonies and dissonances with tones of the mechanical vibrations. After several minutes, the radiation stops, its

echoes

reverberating and mimicked by my feeble voice. I empty my lungs, finishing the wail, and inhale sharply.

Alone

.

Echo . . .

. . . echO

David C. Ellis

taistetli

ja

parantui

aivokasvaimestaan

18.

elinvuotenaan

fought against

recovered
from

his brain tumor

in the 18th year of his life

. . . and a prosthetic

cyborg

was born . . .

poetically inclined.

Play with the words: click on the smallcaps, wave at the italics. Or, return to the introduction.

Last modified 3 April 2005