06.03.07
image persistence
i have not been able to get the scene out of my head for the last couple of days. it’s hard not to think about it while driving, but even elsewhere, i just keep thinking of how the body looked, how the collision would’ve played out, etc. i typically don’t dream about things that happen during the day, so i’m not really afraid of nightmares, but during the waking hours i have what is actually in front of me to distract my mind’s eye — when i go to bed at night, there’s only darkness on which to project the scene, over and over again. i can’t seem to muster up the suspension of disbelief necessary to create fear — i mean, there’s nothing supernatural about traffic fatalities. but there is an overwhelming sense of slow, unshakable horror, especially when i think about the bloody stumps with what i assumed to be white bone in the center.
D Ou said,
June 4, 2007 at 8:56
There’s nothing like a confrontation with death to make one think about the frailty of life, and then, the miraculousness of the soul. Don’t fixate on the physical, that only leads to morbidity. Send peaceful thoughts instead to the poor woman and marvel instead at your own bones, nicely enclosed within skin, flesh, and muscle. And take care that it stays enclosed.