Overload, Dizziness, Vertigo, Trance

THERE ARE TWENTY-FIVE WORDS typed on the card on the wall, five rows of five, all nouns: “Ball,” “Tree,” “Dog,” etc. I read the words out loud one by one, first unaccompanied, then along with a metronome at 80 beats per minute, then again at 100. I read the first and the last word of each line at 80, then the second and the second-to-last. Now I hold an identical card and read all twenty-five words, alternating between the card in my hand and the card on the wall. At 80. At 100. I read the first word of each line on the card in my hand and the last on the card on the wall. At 100. Again, backward. I read the words on the card on the wall along with the metronome standing on a mat that throws my feet off balance. Now I focus my vision on the word in the center of the card on the wall: “Dog.” I shake my head back and forth along with the metronome, at 80 beats per minute. Dog. Dog. Dog. The tempo increases to 100 again. The word comes in and out of focus. Dog. Dog. Dog. Thirty seconds. Finally, I stop. I sit down and close my eyes.