2007 - Vol. 4, Issue 2

"To the Edge"

I am strapped down
The surgeon begins
finding out if the tissue
can be excised

I read pictures, to elicit
my speech. Stimulating
my brain, they pinpoint
possibilities. I feel no pain

He says "Say it again.  .  .
again  .  .  .  again."
Then, "Stop." He declares
"That's it, back it off"

Spiraling for information,
he finds partial extraction
will be allowed. I hear,
"You did well, go to sleep"

He removes tissue
the size of a dime
The rest stays behind,
preserving my voice

He has cautiously
gone to the edge
I'm grateful
I am able to speak

"Al"

I was told I didn't need to speak
He could not answer me
he would no longer understand

I read to him. Magazines,
news clips, humor
He had always made me laugh

No movement, eyes closed
No reaction. I continued to read
hoping he would hear me

Watching his chest, I listened
He breathed so slow,
he seemed to be sighing

Thinking of what we
had joked about from the day
I married his son, I lied

I told him I was pregnant
he was going to be a grandpa
I loved him

His breath a low breeze
he whispered "Thank you,
I love you too"

His shallow
breathing
stopped

"Valiant Desperadoes"

Sue suggests we rob a bank
If caught, they won't keep us
Not easy to detain,
not feasible to confine

She in her wheelchair,
her muscles abandoned
I, in my seizures,
brain surgeries failed

I think of us as bandits
Loving the idea,
appreciating the humor,
we sit and we laugh

My aunt called today
Becoming blind in one
eye, unsure if it will
happen in the other

Scared, also stubborn,
she gives it a laugh
Still driving,
not willing to yield

As I speak of our plan,
that we could use a third,
her chuckle
cascades into laughter

Our ally, the absolute
accomplice
Three outlaws
in her getaway van

"Suzanne"

She wears my necklace, a totem of sorts
Stroking my head, she waits
When I throw up, she wipes my face

As I need ice chips, she doles them out
With the instincts of sisterhood,
she knows I am thirsty

Using the sponge to clean my lips,
she squeezes it. My tongue quivers
with the coolness

Droplets fill my mouth with moisture 
Rivulets sliding down my chin, soothe me
My thirst quenched, another seizure starts

As I come out of it,
she places the necklace in my hand
and tells me I will be all right

Medication relieves the pain
I fall to sleep, knowing when I awaken
Suzanne will still be here

"Valiant Desperadoes" first appeared in Caduceus magazine, 2005.