Tuzman, Ani

English

SWOSU Digital Commons (Southwestern Oklahoma State University)

Volume 32Issue 1 Winter Article 4412-15-2016Something So Simple as BreathingAni TuzmanFollow this and additional works at: https://dc.swosu.edu/westviewPart of the Fiction Commons, Nonfiction Commons, Photography Commons, and the PoetryCommonsThis Poetry is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals atSWOSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Westviewby an authorized administrator of SWOSU Digital Commons. For moreinformation, please contact phillip.fitzsimmons@swosu.edu.Recommended CitationTuzman, Ani (2016) "Something So Simple as Breathing," Westview: Vol. 32 : Iss. 1 , Article 44.Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/westview/vol32/iss1/44Som ething So Simple as B reathingFor Emmanuelby Ani TuzmanIn Cardiac Intensive Care, the chambers of my son's blue heart swell under translucent skin, no wall of bone.They bulge and roll into each other, the muscle kneaded by invisible hands.Days pass, measured onlyby the beating of his unsheltered heart,while I sit on a tall orange stool, my heavenly post,trying to keep my balance without holdingmy breath or this baby—his veins saturated, tiny plastic hoses burrowing into his wrists, ankles, and chest, a mechanical box giving him breaths he cannot take on his own.Something so simple as breathing.I stroke small patches free of IVs, a place on his thigh, his forehead, sing to himwhile he resists his sedated sleep.For months, I guard his hours, vigilant on my fence: Death on one side.Life on the other.Until my fear and my faith,on opposite sides of that fence,jump it—to meet in my heartand dance with each otherlike this was a celebration, not a vigil.68 Westview

Something So Simple as Breathing

https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1492&context=westview

Something So Simple as Breathing

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

SWOSU Digital Commons (Southwestern Oklahoma State University)