May 9, 2022
Audio
Case III
By Justin Greene
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Case III
By Justin Greene
G.D....presented at the age of 15 to Professor Charcot’s clinic in February 1884 & was prescribed electrotherapy.
Case III
By Justin Greene
G.D....presented at the age of 15 to Professor Charcot’s clinic in February 1884 & was prescribed electrotherapy.
the boy was
almost a man
a wall
a terrible fright making
unusual frequent
movements flexions
extensions grimaces
a range of contortions under a tonic regime of two
showers daily &
medical gymnastics for
his use of
the word shit
his shit
movements resisting every means of
treatment:
hydrotherapy gymnastics potassium bromide sedatives electrotherapy discipline
failure
to be
less
& less
& less
shaken
by his
shit
condition
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This poem is erased from the case study of the same numbers in Gilles de la Tourette’s 1885 article “Study of a nervous affliction characterized by motor incoordination with echolalia and coprolalia (Jumping, Latah, Myriachit)”.
Justin Greene
Justin Greene (he/him) is a writer living in Berkeley, California, where he is pursuing a Ph.D. in anthropology at UC Berkeley. His writing has appeared in Hayden's Ferry Review, The Southeast Review, and elsewhere. He is the editor-in-chief of Ki and recently served as a small press editor at Entropy, where he organized the Where to Submit list. He tweets @justinigreene.
Image Description: In the bright, white-walled room of an art gallery, Justin is giving a reading in front of a podium, standing with his arms outstretched and with a slight smile on his face. He has on black glasses and has black hair and a beard. He is wearing a black leather jacket with a leopard print collar. The jacket crisscrossed with silver zippers, one of which has a vertebra hanging from it. He wears grey skinny jeans and black dress shoes.