Madeline Docherty
POV: you have a migraine
there is a video essay playing on the TV / it is an analysis of the programme house m.d / in house m.d characters are only sick for one episode / dr house always thinks they have lupus / they never have lupus / he writes conditions on a whiteboard in black pen / the video essay tells you dr house is based on sherlock holmes / you think but sherlock holmes wasn’t a doctor / dr house takes vicodin which is american for hydrocodone / you take hydrocodone to copy him / you and dr house both understand pain / if you met you would probably fall in love / opioids modulate the way you emotionally react to pain / you used to cry / now you watch house m.d / dr house reacts to pain by being a dick all the time / lin manuel miranda starts rapping / he is not supposed to be here / there is only dr house / you sit up and feel your head full of gloop / maybe pus / maybe bugs / maybe mayonnaise / you can’t open your eyes / you say out loud was lin manuel miranda in house? / he says yes / lin manuel miranda is mocking you / you think of your jade roller in the freezer / how you roll it on your forehead / cheeks / jaw / so icy / no more lin manuel miranda / it will stick to your burning face / your body has forgotten how to digest food / you think about tiny white pills resting on the soil of your stomach lining / if you water them maybe they will grow tiny opiate trees / water tastes like smoking a cigarette / you resolve to water them later / maybe they are like cacti / maybe they thrive in barren landscapes / the world has a pee yellow filter / your brain is a scrabble bag with no word tiles / you ask lin manuel miranda to let you go / he asks you if you have seen his award winning musical hamilton / you say no you only watch house m.d / he says eliza eliza eliza / his voice is breaking like a prepubescent boy / you tell him he doesn’t understand what you need / he starts to cry / when the pain lifts you are ravenous / your body has run a marathon from the sofa / you take a bite out of a block of cheese / you tear through a slice of bread / deconstructed cheese sandwich / break bread with your enemies / your lin manuel mirandas / you look up house cast on imdb / lin manuel miranda had a two episode arc on season 6 / he is a young boy in a psychiatric hospital / house beats him up for fun / he moves to arizona with his cousin / maybe that’s where he wrote hamilton / you look up are there cacti in arizona / maybe you will visit
Biography
|
Madeline Docherty (she/her) is a Scottish writer based in Glasgow. She is currently enrolled in the Creative Writing MLitt at the University of Glasgow with the aim of developing her creative practice. Her work deals with themes of illness, perception and human connection through the medium of prose, poetry and creative non-fiction. She also works as a freelance transcriber and communications manager for Scottish mental health charity, Mind Waves. Find her on Twitter @maddydocherty or Instagram @madelinedoc_
|
