In 1804, Ignaz Troxler made the discovery that rigidly fixating one’s gaze on some element in the visual field can cause surrounding stationary images to seem to slowly disappear or fade. Illusions Index
Take for example,
a watch on your wrist,
or a barbell in your tongue.
You feel them at first,
and then you don’t.
You get used to the weight—
It is 3AM and you don’t know
how long you have been staring at your reflection. You are now oblivious
to circles under eyes/blemishes on cheeks/spots on ceiling/ stains on teeth/bulbs that have not been replaced/rust/mold—
to the holes—
in the wall/ in the carpet/ in the words—
in the corpse you see in the mirror.
Don’t be alarmed, this is only an illusion.
Your neurons adapting to
ignore the unimportant stimuli—
to fill in all gaps.
If you focus, you will even forget
you are a blue circle someone chooses not to see—
Since fourth grade you’ve draw tornadoes
in your journal with a ballpoint pen—
You filled page after page.
Layered circle upon circle upon circle
until they all became holes.