Red Herring Leather Boots: ‘Gabriella Versacci’

      for JoXXX XXXwart



(i)
                     (174, 175, 176)

Gabriella Versacci was making spaghetti


                  in the grasp of patriarchal capitalism


when a sharp rap

made her

                  △ jump △

                  the thirty-three year old
                  “housewife”

in the ten years since
since she & her partner
had  ▽ landed ▽

had always been in
great demand

------------------------------------------------------

      suddenly

      the car seemed to lose
      power,
      the headlamps
      flickered


      & cut out


        ... metaphor for creative processes #840 ...


      then the engine splut        tered      (/t3:d/)

      & fell silent

      but when the Mini came to a stop
      a metallic hand came down on her
      left shoulder
      made Gabriella face
      her assailant,
      gibbering

      &
      - one word -
      crashed

                                   Roswell, New Mexico

      around
      her fainting brain:

      “ROBOT”



(ii)
                     (176, 177)

      she finds
      herself

      in a circular

      room

      strapped
      naked

      except for
      her red

                                               herring

      leather
      boots

      to a table

      & wonders
      who has undressed
      her

                                    single malt whisky

            wrists                bound to the table
            spread-eagled legs    bound to the table
            ankles                bound to the table


            while the robot
            stands inactive
            by a blank
            wall

... metaphor for P.S. #564(a) ...



(iii)
                     (176, 178)

                  noticing her
                  frequent glances
                  toward the
                  metal Mickey man

                  one of the
                  beings
                  with numerous, disappointing
                  typos
                  & persistent
                  grammatical & other errors
                  says

                  that it is a
                  trained device
                  that does
                  all the manual
                  work, merely a
                  non-thinking intelligence
                  that is programmed
                  for certain tasks

                  ... metaphor for P.S. #564(b) ...

                         ---

                  a thin pencil-
                  like probe
                  prods
                  & a large black
                  //
                  rubber suction device
                  is used on the area

                                             fifty-one

                        around her groin



(iii)
                     (178, 179)

                        it

                                               Mickey?

                        lifts
                        the end
                        of the blanket
                        from the bottom
                        & stares at
                        her

                                   hairs, long & black

                        body

                        there is no visible
                        emotion
                        in its
                        ______
       
                        its                           
                        ______
                        boring
                        into her

                        she struggles
                        with her bonds

                          i) of patriarchal femininity
                                         ii) of iron y

                                             she pulls
                                           & she bucks
                          & she XXXXXX at her moorings


                        she tries to            scream

                                      “bit.ly/2rKvW1q”

                        she tries to            cry
                        she tries to            vomit

                        but can’t, it is

                                                    no

                        good

                                & she remains tethered


(cf.: un-ditto, 3.2,
I know you are
reading me(,) over)

                                         to her social

                        the altar
                        the table


                        & then it places

                                            the lotion
                                         in the basket

                        (&) a small
                        pin on
                        her thigh & Gabriella
                        immediately
                        stops struggling

                                       interpellated ✓
                                        interpolated ✗

you
think in the words
that I taught
you

                                    and my profit on’t
                                        is, I know how
                                              to curse



(iv)
                     (179)

                              the
                              pin device
                              causes

                              paralysis, numbing:
                              she feels no pain

I am quite sure
Porphyria Gabriella feels
no                  pain

                              but it climbs
                              slowly
                              on to the bottom
                              of the bed

                              “Oh my God,” she
                              thinks, “XX XX raping
                              XX”.

                              she feels
                                    → its every move
                              she feels
                                    → sick at its cold
                                    → alien touch

                                    her partner
                                    her daughters
                                    her sick friend in
                                          → Wellington
                                          → (q.v.)
                                    what would they “ ”
                                          → of this
                                          → she?



(v)
                     (179)

                                          when it
                                          finishes
                                          it slowly
                                          climbs

                                          back off



                                          she is not
                                                 → aware
                                          of it having
                                          had an
                                          ...
                                          emission
                                          ...
                                          but it
                                          is not beyond
                                          possibility


                          that
                       she might
                    ↙             ↘

                  rust          become
                               pregnant
                                   ↓

                                will the
                               child be an
                                 alien

                                   ?

                                  how
                                will she
                                  tell
                           ↙        ↓       ↘

                   her             the            more
                 partner        Registrar       generally
                                of Births,
                                 Deaths &
                                Marriages

                            --- 

(CODING: DSM-5 297.1, FREQUENT SPOUSAL VIOLENCE IN, V.
DOI: 10.9734/INDJ/2016/22583; “WARNING, WILL ROBINSON!
                      WARNING!”)

Works cited

Nagaitis, Carl & Phillip Mantle. (1994). Without Consent: A Comprehensive Study of Missing Time and Abduction Phenomena in the United Kingdom. Poynton, Ches.: Ringpull Press.