Pursed Lips
Pursed Lips
Pursed Lips
Nasal cannula in her nostrils
Tubing trailing down to the floor
To a portable oxygenator beside
Her stool. She’s pulling the arm
Of the one-armed bandit
At the Rosebud Reservation
Casino as fast as she can drop
Tokens and pull with her atrophied,
anorexic arms, pursing her lips
To breathe. These days no cigarette
To calm her, she pops a Xanax,
Takes a couple puffs of an inhaler,
Counts the tokens like the months
Or days left, a jackpot any second.
Nasal cannula in her nostrils
Tubing trailing down to the floor
To a portable oxygenator beside
Her stool. She’s pulling the arm
Of the one-armed bandit
At the Rosebud Reservation
Casino as fast as she can drop
Tokens and pull with her atrophied,
anorexic arms, pursing her lips
To breathe. These days no cigarette
To calm her, she pops a Xanax,
Takes a couple puffs of an inhaler,
Counts the tokens like the months
Or days left, a jackpot any second.
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- Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03
Re: Pursed Lips
Terrific character you’ve created here. Funny in a bleak way. Strong writing
Re: Pursed Lips
I was hoping the poem was about love of life in the throes of end-of-life COPD.
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- Posts: 1619
- Joined: 01 Jun 2008, 09:17
Re: Pursed Lips
Too real. You can go into any casino in the country and find two dozen old ladies with oxygen bottles and a plastic tub full of tokens.
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- Posts: 1619
- Joined: 01 Jun 2008, 09:17
Re: Pursed Lips
What I meant Billy is the caricature is so accurate, it eclipses any other intent. Maybe if you took her out the casino...
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- Posts: 1983
- Joined: 02 Mar 2016, 18:07
- Location: Between the mountains and the sea
Re: Pursed Lips
Yes, the love of life comes across strongly.
It is true to life, and poetry reflects life.
One can see the specialised vocabulary of a health-care worker in this poem.
I especially like the close
She's an addict right, a gambling addict
and addicted to life.
She wants to grab every ounce of life left to her.
Don't we all.
It is true to life, and poetry reflects life.
One can see the specialised vocabulary of a health-care worker in this poem.
I especially like the close
She's an addict right, a gambling addict
and addicted to life.
She wants to grab every ounce of life left to her.
Don't we all.
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- Posts: 2154
- Joined: 18 Apr 2005, 04:57
Re: Pursed Lips
Hi Billy,
Thought you might like to know, that's about how I read it. A love-lust for life forever.
At times, when people are dying, they become more alive than ever - a sudden boost, reinvigoration..
That's why some artists, namely Mozart and John Keats, and Emily Bronte, during, not the end of their life, for there is not an end of life, for life is forever, but during the finale of their run here, they produced masterpieces -
likewise with Christ and His miracles. .
I believe this dynamic to be a symbolic testimony that we die, but are never dead - there is the dying that is the freeing from death.
By the way, the title is an apt & strong image - "pursed lips" breathing - a technique kinda like a self-resusitation strategy.
Michael (MV)
Thought you might like to know, that's about how I read it. A love-lust for life forever.
At times, when people are dying, they become more alive than ever - a sudden boost, reinvigoration..
That's why some artists, namely Mozart and John Keats, and Emily Bronte, during, not the end of their life, for there is not an end of life, for life is forever, but during the finale of their run here, they produced masterpieces -
likewise with Christ and His miracles. .
I believe this dynamic to be a symbolic testimony that we die, but are never dead - there is the dying that is the freeing from death.
By the way, the title is an apt & strong image - "pursed lips" breathing - a technique kinda like a self-resusitation strategy.
Michael (MV)
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- Posts: 2154
- Joined: 18 Apr 2005, 04:57
Re: Pursed Lips
Billy,
a workshop look with not the first word of each line capitalized - instead a natural capitalizing - that's less stylized, more natural & fitting to the poem happening here. Also, minor edits. -- Michael (MV)
Nasal cannula in her nostrils,
tubing trailing down to a portable
oxygenator beside her stool.
She’s pulling the arm
of the one-armed bandit
at the Rosebud Reservation
Casino as fast as she can drop
tokens and pull with her atrophied,
anorexic arms, pursing her lips
to breathe. These days no cigarette
to calm her, she pops a Xanax,
takes a couple puffs of an inhaler,
counts the tokens like the months
or days left, a jackpot any second.
a workshop look with not the first word of each line capitalized - instead a natural capitalizing - that's less stylized, more natural & fitting to the poem happening here. Also, minor edits. -- Michael (MV)
Nasal cannula in her nostrils,
tubing trailing down to a portable
oxygenator beside her stool.
She’s pulling the arm
of the one-armed bandit
at the Rosebud Reservation
Casino as fast as she can drop
tokens and pull with her atrophied,
anorexic arms, pursing her lips
to breathe. These days no cigarette
to calm her, she pops a Xanax,
takes a couple puffs of an inhaler,
counts the tokens like the months
or days left, a jackpot any second.
Re: Pursed Lips
Thanks Michael,that was by accident, my iPhone capitalized each new line and just left it. I’ll change it.