Trans Orbital Lobotomy
in through the eye
device adapted from an ice pick
the space between the cornea & tear duct tears
little incisions along the frontal lobe
you open the grapefruit
you open the grape
you open
in the '50s there were tens of thousands performed in the states
sour mess. sour mash. mashup. macerate.
cut a rug. jitterbug. wonder drug. gutter. tug. suture. lacerate.
erasure. erase. raced. deadened. dead end.
end. replace.
once a doctor removed the frontal lobe of an aggressive ape
what followed was a column of ants
your relative made new & easy to manage
a miracle
Credit
Copyright © 2017 by sam sax. “Trans Orbital Lobotomy” originally appeared in Madness (Penguin, 2017). Reprinted with permission of the author.
Author
Sam Sax
Sam Sax is a queer Jewish writer and educator. They are the author of Pig (Scribner, 2023); Bury It (Wesleyan University Press, 2018), which received the 2017 James Laughlin Award; and Madness (Penguin Books, 2017), winner of the National Poetry Series. They are also the author of the novel, Yr Dead (McSweeney’s, 2024), which was long-listed for the 2024 National Book Award.
Of Sax’s work, James Laughlin Award judge Tyehimba Jess writes,
Date Published
10/23/2017