Nocebo
   
 I am the dark flip of the diagnostic coin,
 treatment titrated into trauma.
  
 Inert as chalk, yet I circle in the mind
 summoning dark outcomes,
  
 torquing healing powers 
 against themselves, imagination
  
 metastasizing as fear. No matter
 where you look, “Hey! Over here!”
  
 precise warnings serve as spores
 fruited by a lively brain
  
threading unravelling and pain.
 I do harm. I fall like rain.
   
 Leslie Schultz 

Last night, I wondered idly if today’s title might be “Narwhale” or “Notorious” or “Negotiate.” But….no.

I have long thought that fretting is an abuse of the imagination, so when I catch myself at it, I seek ways to short-circuit that. Recently, I learned that the term “placebo” has an antonym, and this poem sprang from that.

Some of the images here come from two past exhibitions of the American Swedish Institute: “Mansion in Mourning” (October 1-November 1, 2016) and “Quilting Art Today and The Nordic Quilts” (June 18-October 30, 2016)