Saturday, November 13, 2010

Catching Up with Poetry

Tonight, I spent a lot of time catching up on poems I wanted to write, but there's still more left that I want to write! That's the trouble with everything isn't it? We never have time do it all.

Lab Work

Desire stirred into the liquid
Reveals ice smoking colder,
As you pipet these channels
Into my heart.

Look at me.
I want to capture your empty potentials,
Increase your concentration,
Turn your mixtures pinkish hue.

Throw away those papers,
The memories of our shared ways,
Filling vials together under unkind lights,
Our last chance.

Aim your whispers forgetfully.
I want to you break my glass ware
Into finite rivers. I will drown.
Stop me.

You haunt my connections,
Thoughts filtering into sounds,
As I melt into your final product.
But you forget,
To know you too must burn.

Fear

Fear makes your heart heavy,
Each beat thumps below like falling blows,
Your throat dries with residue like dirty water,
Your breath escapes you,

You took a step forward into nothingness,
And found yourself alone.
You sought to get away from yourself,
Forgotten the first thing.
You will always be alone.

Diagnosis: Cardio-Renal Syndrome

Her kidneys slowed their filtration.
Blood filled with bodily detriment,
Simple and complex excrement.
She just could not be well.
Her heart too beat slower,
For age had gained its grasp.
Fluids built up in secret spaces,
A master sailor could not find.

One a champion boxer, even walking
Is beyond her. Climbing stairs would
Tear her remaining life in two.
What can a doctor do when there is nothing to do?
She is going to die, her condition simply
Incompatible with life.

One day, I will grow her a new heart and new kidneys too.
I will form stem cells with my mind
Into caricatures of function.
She will need no help from me anymore.

Cardiac Transplant Surgery

I met a man, who had his heart removed,
In long hours of blink-less surgery,
He had dreamt:
He ran in the park in the morning, winding through trees and young girls tanning,
(Surgeons made a hole where once there’d been a man’s chest. )
Swam across his childhood lake, bright leaves and dark water clouding his vision,
(They installed a living heart from the dead, kept under ice. )
Waltzed with his wife under ballroom lights, a champion's smooth steps and turns reappearing,
(Connecting intricate channels to the heart, like wiring up a car battery. )
Tasted smooth red wine, gently draining from the side of the glass without leaving a drop.
(They pumped him full of electricity and waited. )
Lights came on. And he felt it beating.