20160127 (sendep)

Floating, heavenly, peaceful, blissful--for just one hour.

Solitary Confinement--this prisoner is under suicide watch.

Sensory deprivation has a Jekyll

& Hyde reputation. I might be 

Tempted to do a “float” at a hip

Health center which I understand

Is getting a lot of positive buzz

After a short stint in ignominy.

Basically you will be lying in

An enclosure in a liquid of one 

Part water, nine parts Epsom

Salts at body temperature, naked

As a jaybird (you shower before

Entering) and you float easily,

Bouyed by this concentrated

Fluid. The agent, nurse, owner

Closes the clamshell-like tank

Shutting out all light, most of

The sound except muffled air

Supply and the inside speaker

System which they attenuate

To zip once you’re comfy. You

Have a mic in the box to summon

Them if you need. Then for an

Hour you’re in there alone with

Your thoughts and the quiet.

Many people say it’s quite

A pleasant place—they rest,

They fall asleep, they dream.

The music comes on again to

Signal time’s up. Another 

Shower, you get yourself

Presentable, and leave. Many

People complaining of stressful

Jobs swear by it. You’re not

Really weightless, though you

Might be tempted to say so.

Actually your innards are 

Weighing one on another 

Unlike in Zero-G flights or

Orbiting space stations. The

Hyde part of SenDep comes

When it’s not voluntary, when

It’s extended, and when it’s

Totally anechoic—no sounds

Whatever, and absolutely no

Light. Thinking processes

Deteriorate. You can’t keep

Problems or thoughts in order.

Hallucinations, some tolerable,

Some otherwise, set on without

Ceasing. Hallucinations can be

Auditory, tactile. You lose the

Concept of where you end and

Something else begins. You

Blend into the blackness. You 

Might even panic. In the ‘50s

Psychologists tried to build 

From the disorientations a 

Method of extracting information

From captive enemy while

Claiming they were developing

Methods to help our guys resist

Mind-bending treatment. No,

Prisoners were not floated in

Epsom salts comfortably. The

Affordable quarters turned out

To be solitary confinement in

Uniformly white cells with 

Bright lighting to remove the

Sense of the passage of time.

Soundlessness, harder to achieve,

Was replaced with loud white

Noise or eardrum piercing

Constant heavy metal. SenDep

Leaves no marks, skirts

The torture requirement of

Bodily damaging stress, and

What the hell, in the first

Moments may actually

Serve to reduce tension,

Like in the chi-chi clinics.

c. J.S.Manista, 2016