|
THE OKLAHOMA
REVIEW
Volume 8 | Issue 1 | Spring 2007 |
Poetry |
|
|
Print version Janet Butler Death in the Mountains LeAnna Covalt Pagosa Springs Roger
Jones
Long Ago Dream of a Bad Love Affair Coming Attractions, 1960 Jason W. Selby Love in the Time of Colonialism Noel
Sloboda
Surfaces Cuts Uncruel Salesman of the Quarter tolbert ghosts laughter Anne Whitehouse Blessings IX Curses II |
LeAnna
Covalt A
few days after your fiftieth birthday
your
body, with a new manicure
and a new kidney a new haircut had stopped breathing in the night your heart had stopped beating arrested in mid thought and you went without air or blood for eight minutes what
happens in eight minutes?
the segment of a sit-com between commercial breaks two hundred cars pass my house an army of red ants carry off my sandwich and the human brain suffers irreparable damage without blood or air even the basic parts of your brain that tell you to eat and sleep and breathe no longer function on their own
when they brought you back from death we could only watch your nervous system jerk your face back and forth like a dead baby being rocked to sleep your mouth hung open with the umbilical cord connecting you to your new mother for hours we watched your lifeless body alive with the spasms until the doctors gave you a sedative and us a choice |
Home Nonfiction Fiction Poetry Contributors Staff and Guidelines Past Issues Links Cameron University |
The views expressed in The Oklahoma Review do not necessarily correspond to those of Cameron University, and the university's support of this magazine should not be seen as an endorsement of any philosophy other than faith in -- and support of -- free expression. The content of this publication may not be reproduced without the written consent of The Oklahoma Review or the authors. © 2007 The Oklahoma Review |