Post Mortem Poem by Gieve Patel

Post Mortem

Rating: 3.3


It is startling to see how swiftly
A man may be sliced
From chin to prick,
How easily the bones
He has felt whole
Under his chest
For a sixty, seventy years
May be snapped,
With what calm
Liver, lung and heart
Be examined, the bowels
Noted for defect, the brain
For haemorrhage,
And all these insides
That have for a lifetime
Raged and strained to understand
Be dumped back into the body,
Now stitched to perfection,
Before announcing death
As due to an obscure reason.

[From: Poems; Publisher: Nissim Ezekiel, Mumbai, 1966]

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Manonton Dalan 19 January 2016

I refuse to be disemboweled I will make that in writing

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Mahtab Bangalee 24 November 2019

A man may be sliced before announcing death! grimace face of post Morten

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Aniruddha Pathak 24 November 2019

Nor is there dignity for the dying in groan, Nor yet for the dead and gone, Post Mortem, a beautiful poem.

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Ratnakar Mandlik 24 November 2019

The process of postmortem along with it's revelation beautifully elaborated making the poem worthy of selection as modern poem of the day.

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Michael Walker 24 November 2019

Very realist and slightly dark. Are you perchance a coroner or doctor? As you say, it is the insides of a person that have tried to understand. A 'gut' feeling and more than that.

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Tamara Beryl Latham 24 November 2019

There are many who do not give the subject of post-mortem and in-depth view. You did it, although dark, rather nicely. Congratulations on POD and thank you for sharing. : -)

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Anil Kumar Panda 24 November 2019

Nice poem about how a post mortem is done by tearing the body apart and exposing parts inside. Enjoyed. Liked it.10+++

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Edward Kofi Louis 24 November 2019

Dead body! Silence in court. Thanks for sharing this poem with us.

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Gieve Patel

Gieve Patel

Mumbai / India
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