MRI

by Dagur Hjartarson

Segulómun
MRI

Before you disappear
into the MRI
they inject contrast into your veins 

and so it begins
first, the clumsy drone
then hammering
then drone, hammer

as if someone were stuck
inside the cylinder,
struggling to get out

but that’s not true, is it? 

it’s simply the sound
that comes with seeing the core
of another person

when you slid out
it all seemed a ludicrous joke

the conclusions come later;
black and white photographs
of a fragile landscape

Translated by Meg Matich.