It was simple really…placing
the leucotome in the corner of the eye socket,
near the tear duct.
A hammer was needed to push the pick
through the thin layer of bone.
And that was it…except for the turning
of the instrument which then
cut the connections in the prefrontal cortex;
40 degrees to the right severed the connection to
the thalamus where decisions were made.
And the gelatinous brain was altered forever.
I explained it to my patients and their families
as chasing the weasel…the weasel of
depression, psychosis, rage.
And as quickly as that, the patient, was reduced
to something beyond human but
what else was there? Some existences
are better than others.
And suddenly emotions of love, passion, greed,
envy, dissolved.
It wasn’t an exact surgery. Brutal really.
After effects varied. There was a dullness, a lack of
cognition, an emotional detachment.
I wasn’t a god but close to it. I created a new being.
And it was exhilarating to know that I could
change personality so dramatically.
There was only one patient who haunted me:
a young woman named Evelyn, an artist, who drew
landscapes. After the surgery she drew
only a line for the horizon.
Nothing more.
–
Ann Power is a retired faculty member from The University of Alabama. She enjoys writing historical sketches as well as poems based in the kingdoms of magical realism. Her work has appeared in: Spillway, Gargoyle Magazine, The Birmingham Poetry Review, Dappled Things, The Copperfield Review, The Ekphrastic Review, The Loch Raven Review, Lowestoft Chronicle, Amethyst Review, and other publications. She was nominated for Best of the Net in Poetry for her poem, “Ice Palace.”
© 2024, Ann Power
Halfway Down the Stairs 