The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Deijman, by Janiru Liyanage

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Deijman, by Rembrandt van Rijn (Netherlands) 1656.

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Deijman

He peels and peels and unfurls your 
scalp-skin like an orchid does for 
a lovestruck bee, except, there is no 
love here
pink watery brain, almost spongey;
he holds a thin blade that slices
the light and slicks it through 
your entirety - the part of you that
named itself 
a man watches on, bowl in hand
For what?
what’s the bowl for?
he doesn’t answer
just watches - 
your face, shadowed dived into 
your dimples, hands positioned 
like your well rested
he points to your medulla and says:
see, the soul
he points to your hippocampus and
says: see, the hunger
which is almost true
but maybe, this was all for vain
who cares what you remembered?
the silver-dusted watch you left in 
Vermont while you undressed to learn love
the Bible you got as a kid to learn God,
from which you tore out all the pages 
about hell - what did you need with hell anyway?
what was waiting for you at the end was
sure to be filled with pearl clusters and 
grapes filed through your mouth - 
he pulls your limbs back
macabre museum exhibit
draws close your scalp
and tosses you back into the storage
to be pulled out again like a root
vegetable 
to be displayed again later
all around us, white light braids into 
a screen,
this, is maybe, heaven, and 
God watches on, learning anatomy

Janiru Liyanage 

Janiru is a fourteen year old Sri-Lankan/Australian student and poet who lives in Sydney. Aside from poetry, he loves maths and has received numerous awards in both national and international math competitions/olympiads. He is the 2019 junior winner of the national Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Awards and is also a prolific participant and winner of poetry slams. His work is forthcoming or appears in [PANK], The Journal Of Compressed Creative Arts & elsewhere. Having just begun his personal poetic journey, Janiru is eager to find his own voice in his work.