Author: Don Krieger
Reader: Don Krieger
Language: English
Sunday Morning Surger
Radiation had saved her
left her neck atrophied
skin like paper, withered carotid
now near closed
downstream clot pulsing
poised to kill.
The breathing tube is wrong.
Their voices burst out, panicked --
that fragile skin and vessel
bulging white, scope blade
hooking down her throat.
I call to the surgeon
Get in here
before they kill your patient.
He pushes them aside, removes
then replaces the tube
Her signs turn life-ward,
another skirmish won.