Before the Body

[alonso ramoran]

Hi matsunosuperfan,

An interesting piece. I'm trying to work out the nature of the speaker, who they are, what their situation is. What I've gathered is that the speaker is in some sort of end-of-life care in a clinic/hospital and they are musing on life as they knew/know it. There are some phrases that don't ring completely clear to me, I'll clarify which ones below.

Before the Body

A soul is nothing special. Because I sleep through any noise, I like the assertiveness of this first line. reader gets immediate insight into the speaker's headspace
they chose me for the bunker. The doctor ran a battery of tests not completely sure what bunker means here. I think "a battery of tests / to test my fortitude" can be cut down to "tests / of fortitude"
to test my fortitude, plinking hammers at my knees, eavesdropping eavesdropping is novel, but I'm not completely sure what it's accomplishing beyond novelty
on my blood. At first she heard a murmur, but dismissed it
as stray gas. The vestiges of sin will follow you
through every life, and yes, I do regret that hot dog 
but I know my heart is stalwart. Birds approach These have been a nice succession of lines
with tilted heads, unsure what kind of flower Hard image to imagine. a flower thrown around a bird's neck? the skittish nature of birds aside
I might throw around their necks. I greet them 
with my mouth held open, ready to be born. This last image I can understand though. I appreciate the reference to reincarnation instead of death

Thank you for sharing!