Depraved Indifference
Depraved Indifference
by S.E. Hart
I struck him once
and he recoiled with a smile
a sly, cold expression
some degenerative connotation
that he rather liked it
so I struck him again
and I watched the blood ooze
from his lip
as his eyes began to shift
to a state of thwarted arousal
and heightened confusion
that tinkered on the brink
of the realization of my own
inner depravity
but I wasn’t satisfied
so I struck him again
Scary. Poet displays the detachment indicated in the title. The psychological detail in response to the first two strikes suggests the incidents might actually have happened. Could “some degenerative connotation that he rather liked it” and “a state of thwarted arousal and heightened confusion” be imagined? Yet, regardless of our experiences, we understand what she’s describing. The rhyming “tinkered on the brink” (instead of, say, “trembled”) takes one by surprise, but thinking about it leads to the idea both he and she are working at this violent episode of depravity, and that it’s unconsciously if not consciously cooperative. “But I wasn’t satisfied” tells us for certain that she has the active upper hand and he is the passive victim. The final line, left hanging, is a killer. Great photo.