Echocardiogram

A plunge into deep shadowed caverns,framed within fragile, fluttering gesturesbeckoning incarnation. An insistent, franticdance of life, these ragged borderssteadily pulsating open, closed,then open once again.A thin red line courses the lower sectionof the screen, reassuring in its constant,confident nodding … nodding… as it passes by,nodding as if to punctuate the long-marchof my circling blood. “Breathe in,and hold it… Let it go.”The silent scene shifts nowas sound is added to the mix, a liquid swirl,and swash, a sweeping, pumping agitationas of laundry, or some menacing machine,each valve e nunciating its own distinct,peculiar tone and rhythm – aortic, mitral.

Source: The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry - March 28, 2019 Category: Geriatrics Authors: J. Barrie Shepherd Tags: Poem Source Type: research