CPR
How will I live with the new, glorified body at this distance,
engrossed in the weekly drama of post-traumatic stress and growth still thriving today?
In one episode, the cook freaks out
and begins a scathing critique of the Lazarus phenomenon.
Mouth-to-mouth breathing was heard all around the common room.
The candle hollers, the patient dies,
accused of stealing the rhythm of your chest.
It was a reversal of how the heart came running down the pitch,
a moment at which an individual questions futility.
It was more about status than appetite.
His wife shares her own love story:
a monkey tried to mimic the clinically dead state to its friend,
which had reportedly been electrocuted.
Unfortunately, the procedure was not effective.
Source & Method
I put the title into Google with various search terms including “Britney Spears”, “false”, “fake”, “artificial”, “death”, “cook”, “body”. “PTSD”, “monkey”, “effective”, and “college”. Text was lifted from the first 2 search result pages and rearranged to form the poems.
Ben Drum is a physician-writer in Salt Lake City, UT. He received his BA in Creative Writing as well as his MD at the University of Washington.
Photo by Robina Weermeijer