Edited by Dava Sobel
The body quantified: at autopsy,
it's always on its back, looks up at me
lips puckered tight, as if it would refuse
one last kiss. How much the liver weighs,
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how heavy is the heart, how large the brain.
The body, hungerless, all that remains,
reminds us we are objects absent souls.
I try to animate them, nights alone,
when human company seems necessary,
the lab surrounding us imaginary
as Frankenstein's—any thing's possible.
I talk to this one like she's only ill
and might pull through, remembering my friend
who died of stomach cancer, face so drawn
and bloodless she was almost only breath.
I was among those thankful for my health
who'd visit, but not have to stay. We'd tell
her stories as she winced in pain; meanwhile,
the clock kept warning us no time was left.
How mute the opened thorax, how bereft
the empty bowl of pelvis, how I wish
our fables, in the end, were more than this.
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