Enthäuten Sie Tief

I shaved

Getting my neck smooth

Cheeks ruddy with the heat of the blade

The goatee
Pitiful as it was
Had to go

Job nearly done
The blade bit

A touch of blood
Right near the crease of my lip

Mesmerised
I watched it slowly roll down my chin

Looking at the razor
I shook my head in disgust
Leaving the bathroom momentarily

When I returned
It was with my favourite kitchen knife

Carefully
For there was no room for error

I inserted the very point
Into the fresh wound
Slowly circling
The blood flowing ever freer

Ten rotations the knife made
An inch of flesh removed

I stood back to inspect

The mirror showed without remorse

Lower jaw clearly visible
Still this was not enough

Again to the kitchen
This time returning with the meat scissors

Carefully again
I insert the metallic gaping mouth into flesh

Then I cut

From chin up to my right ear

Pausing

I continue
The serrations biting in to the cartilage

I carefully place the ear in the bin
Trying not to spill too much blood

Back to the mirror
Where I trim the edges of this new wound

Now a line
Half an inch in width

Showing the workings of my jaw
The sinews
Muscle

The visceral me

Intrigued
I repeat the operation
Admiring the symmetry
The perfection of the cuts

I decide to remove my nose and upper lip
Adding to the aesthetic

Beguiled by my own actions
I lose myself

Lose time

Until

I realise I am done

The bathroom is a sea of words

Shadows writ in blood

I look once more into the mirror

Struggling to focus out the patina of my creation

I see no skin
From the neck up

Only the eyes a bloodless
All else oozes

Aaaah

But those eyes
They are truly mine

No need to change them

The never had any beauty to start with

© 2008, Mosquitobyte