The Zipper Poem by William F Dougherty

The Zipper

Rating: 4.8


[from the Crab Sonnets]

They sank a silver zipper in my chest:
a foot of snag-toothed staples used to chain
the cavity where cancer bloomed its yeast.
The lovely morphine drips: I don't complain.
I feel aloof; the nurses glide like ghosts,
their chat like crinkled cellophane: I sway
upon an inner stalk each time I'm dosed.
The lights stay on to keep it day all day.

A voice in surplice hints I'm deeply hurt,
provisional, as rumored in my blood.
My tongue feels bronzed; I try but fail to blurt
against demeaning signs of likelihood-
a gullet's a hard barter for a cure.
I'll bite down hard, disjunctively endure.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
William F Dougherty 16 April 2012

Post-Op in Intensive care Unit.

2 0 Reply
Ashraful Musaddeq 22 September 2008

I am with Sandra, love it and added 10. Amazing composition.

2 0 Reply
Sandra Fowler 21 September 2008

Stark, powerful, unforgettable. Your courage becomes you. Nor has your ability to creat an extraordinary poem been diminished in any fashion. Take care. Warm regards, Sandra

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