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Zumpe, Lee Clark |
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Hard
Work Damned on the Road to Extinction by Richelle Lee Slota 1 I have this
condition called Life killing me. Botched
self-repairs, All hammer no nail, Hard
work damned On the road to extinction. 2 Doctors accuse me
of my age, Patch the cracked foundation, Unpack
the attic brain, Prop up the collapsed floors,
walls, Probe the corroded plumbing, Jolt
the diesel generator’s ventricular tachycardia. “How
fast can you get here?” I stare
at the doctor’s voice on the phone: Stare at the IV,
stare at the chatty nurse shaving My groin hair, stare at the
surgeon saying, “We’re gonna put
a Ferrari in your chest.” My gurney descends
into the cold Operating room, to a Propofol
cocktail swoon. Lights-out, lights-on and a confused return To Telemetry,
to my odd-implanted defibrillator, To my hard of
hearing heart failure With a bad liver roommate
snoring. He wakes, complains of enforced sobriety. “When
I die,” he proclaims, “let there be No full
bottles around.” I wonder how many
friends will drink at my wake. How many old, old, old, old
friends will drink? Maybe 4. I can’t conceive
of more. Certainly not less. If not 4 at least 3. If not 3 at
least 2. If not 2 at least 1. I can’t
conceive of less. Oh, dear, I hope not less. I hope
not no one. Please not no one. I fear no one. Maybe
2 of my 3 children, maybe. Some ex-girlfriend
might sign The funeral guestbook, and all my vengeful ex-wives. 3 I have this
condition called Life killing me.
Botched
self-repairs All hammer no nail Hard work damned On the
road to extinction. The Lonely Planet Guide to
Death by Richelle
Lee Slota Nobody travels there without
getting there, somewhere beyond the poisoned air, the squalid cities, my loving family
living amidst a million cooking fires
in
the once-so-lush, Ghanaian Rain
Forest. The
last stop wasn’t Death, only a year called
Seventy. Other
passengers offer the conundrum, Death
is life. No
one has a clue, When, where Death
is, exactly.
My guidebook has blank pages. The only one who
knows for sure is the killer. Richelle Slota (formerly Richard) grew up, a transgender girl in
hiding. She endured a Marine Master Sergeant father and a rigorous Catholic school education,
even briefly studying for the priesthood. She was drafted into Army in the spring of 1966.
Bad timing. She writes plays, novels, nonfiction, and poetry. She has three grown children.
She has a chapbook, Famous Michael, and she has published in Yellow
Silk, Blue Unicorn, Silverfish Review, Quercus, Plainswoman, DEROS, Blue
Buildings, and Abraxas. Samisdat Press published her
chapbook Famous Michael.
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