Evil Eye
It floated off to the side,
disappearing when I turned to face it head-on.
It hadn’t his features, really,
but I felt his presence a dozen times after—
something floating just off the corner of reality.
Then, weeks later, in the bedroom—a bat.
It flickered against the white curtain and then disappeared.
Moments later, there it was again.
I jerked my head quickly around, flipped the curtain out,
examined its other side.
Moments later, there it was again.
Then a circle floated across to join it.
A hair floated down from above and stuck, center-vision.
A few hours later, the fireworks started—
flashing corollas of light just to the right of me,
like subtle flashbulbs going off.
This was when I decided I needed to see a specialist.
Yes, a retinal detachment, he agreed,
but not yet perforated.
Now, my movements curtailed,
I await that new cloudy ghost
that will be a harbinger
of surgery.
Every tope, every cobblestone
brings a new flash of light—
a signal to still myself.
No jumping. No Zumba.
No jogging. No lifting.
I wait, inactive, watching floaters
move to the center of my vision
and off to the side again.
I practice various levels of exertion,
waiting for the flash that signals rest.
I wait for words to float
across my vision,
to rend my inactivity
and prompt me
to pin them to the page––
to stitch them together
into a clearer sight
of what is there, invisible,
inside me, waiting for the tear
to let it out.
They are the ghosts
of the future
and I am the one
who seeks to gather them,
to mend the tear
and anchor
these slippery ghosts.
The Word of the Day prompt is “specialist.”
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 
Oh dear, I am so sorry to hear about that. Do they know why this happens sometimes?
Props to you for turning life’s events into poetry!
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I’ve had a macular hole, related to a detachment. Thank God there is so much that they can do to solve the problem. Anything like that is a totally scary thing, Judy. I hope your specialist is great, and that you get it resolved soon!
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I hope yours fixes itself and that your doctor is on top of it.
I had a retinal tear that healed. I didn’t even know until my doctor saw the scar. No idea when it happened — but in the dim past I had a couple of serious head injuries.
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Yes…the retinal detachment is a thing of the past, but the macular degeneration isn’t. Here’s hoping it stays as is.
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I’m hoping right beside you, Judy. ❤️
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Best wishes for a good recovery. I can relate, I had a tear a few years back, it looked like a rain shower of black pepper and months of floaters.
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A serious condition. I hope it’s fictional and not real?
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