Poem: "Il Dottore" by Tanner Reiss

Il Dottore
Tanner Reiss

Turn off your devices and
Settle in the unsettling silence
‘Lay back and bask in the darkness
‘Stare sightless into the blindness
Stay there tethered to a trance
Trapped inside the asylum of your mind.
Basically, don’t change a thing,
Il Dottore will be in shortly
Working remotely. But do not worry,
I assure you, it is purely only for his safety.

But how can a doctor work remotely?
Is the question you now ask me.
It is quite easy, really, you see,
Are you familiar with the history
Of Italy? Let us take a journey
To Isola di Poveglia, and voila!
Truly an experience oh, so profound
Beating our feet through the ground
Turning round and round
Falling down, falling down
Like a-tishoo, a-tishoo
We make bedfellows in the meadows
Of ashes and posies and a
Ring around the rosies.

Oops, my apologies, I must
Request that you not collect
These flowers, for they wield
Bubonic powers that are sure to
Plague you with throes of shock
Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock
Just a simple touch is a touch too much
Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock
I confess, this mess takes not a dock
Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock
Too weak to speak, thrills of chills
Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock
Spilling seconds from your clock
Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock

That electronic locket in your pocket
Give it here, if you believe
Keeping it near will bleed your cure
Of that I am not so sure,
Is it the reason you are here.
But go ahead and live your dream
Scream and scream and scream
Evil and pointless as it may seem.
Hey look over there!
A fresh looking stream.
Is it a stream of water?
Is it a stream of vaccine?
Is it a stream of consciousness we have found?
Has this all been but a dream
With seams dressed in lucid streams?
Of that it surely does seem.

Re-indulge in your vices and
Fidget with your gadgets
Stand up and partake in the madness
When you hear a clap,
Awaken from your nap
And you will see, Il Dottore is here with me
But dare I say, that line is heresy
My friend, you cannot hear or see
You are deaf and blind
A prisoner in the asylum inside your mind
Wretched and unrefined, inhuman
Made of bits and pieces like Frankenstein.

Well oh well, bells chime in
Perfect time, do they sing with
Wedding praise or ring to raise
Warning of Monday morning’s mourning?
The way this trip is going, I suspect
It is the latter, but never the matter
For like I said in the stanza parlor
Il Dottore is ready to begin his
Examination of a specimen foreign to
Every nation, rot with technological addiction

But I bet you wish
You should have listened to these
Words of mine instead of living online.
But you chose to collect these flowers
The ones that wield Bubonic powers
So enjoy the Plaughe-ing throes of shock
Tick tock, tick tock, tick… your clock has stopped

Turn off your devices and
Settle in the unsettling silence
Lay back and bask in the darkness
Stare sightless into the blindness
Goodnight….
*hand clap*