Commandment I

Commandment I

*“Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

laid naked on your back
with your wrists in the rope cuffs
and your ankles bound likewise
underneath you the wheel that tightens and stretches
both your arms
and your legs
in opposite directions
it turns slowly at
first
as the good believer pushes the handle
you begin to feel it in your elbows and
shoulders
where the joint start to buckle
the good believer
yells at you
curses
and demands that you confess your wrongs
to their lord god
and in every moment of your silence
the crank handle is turned further, with a
quickening pace
your arms pull out further
and your shoulders dislocate
tearing the muscle
sending a pure bolt of
excruciating pain shooting through
your whole body
echoing that of your legs
being torn at the knees
the spikes on the wheel beneath your back come round
and slice up through and into
your spinal column
while spasms begin
blood pouring out and on the stone floor beneath
and sound of the snapping bones and grinding spikes
render your state numb to any other sound
and in tempo
with the turning of the handle by the good
believer
your last breaths putter out
when your scream is overshadowed by
the complete and total
severity
& in
sputtering hysterics
as your extremities rip and pop fully away from
your torso
with only your head connected by your
paralyzed neck
you are left stuck there on the spikes now
penetrated up through your spine and out your stomach
breaking ribs
& dicing up all your
vitals
no longer even able to seizure
your eyeballs now stationary
staring up at the grimy
ceiling
dry up because they can no longer
close.

*The work of fiction called “The Bible”