songanddancegirl

JOE

I  AM  JOE’S    HEART

On August 16, 1989  at 3:16  Lee reversed

his deal  with  Time   His heart stopped

after years of threatening    In grade 6 he

wrote my speech for the Public Speaking

Contest   I won & went to the finals  where   I lost

Hi  I am Joe’s heart   Joe’s heart is healthy

& deep red   It has chambers   & ventricles  

It is a fine specimen   A pump for all time

Lee’s heart didn’t work nearly as well   Corroded

by anger  angina    His father’s was in worse shape

Without warning it stopped at 62    Who really knows

what mine is doing in there    Sometimes it flutters like   a bird in the throes

Other times   when kicked   it has been known to stop

for a millisecond or 2     This happened during the recital of    I Am Joe’s Heart  

People thought I was terrified of public-speaking

No one suspected an NDE*

Hi   I am Joe’s heart  I have a left ventricle & a right  

I am your pump    Be kind to me

Girl falls to her knees      Fade to black

__

Winter  2014     *Near Death Experience

BASKING

BASKING  IN  YOUR    H1N1

Man clearing his throat & retching

Must be the flu  I glare at him menacingly

We are both in purple   Now connected by

microbes  making a bee-line for my nose

I hold up my Americano   defensively

While he  coughs all over his hand

Were I his executioner I’d have no mercy

Not like *Madame du Barry’s   When she plead:

One more minute Mr. Executioner  he gave her 3

Man in purple’s microbes continue to hit me

Loose cough   Hand wipes away debris

Come on Mr. Executioner   drop that Guillotine

__

I’m an outlier. I don’t do vaccines.

(Man in purple to his mother Jan 16. 2014)

Winter  2014    *mistress of Louis xv