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Defibrillator Hands~ By Steve Coatsworth

10/15/2018

8 Comments

 
I used to drink
like a fish. 
But now I sink and suffocate. 

All the bars like reverse blood banks, 
I'd push through the dim emergencies 
filled with broken people 
who all have six bullet holes to the chest 
of each one of their dreams and scream, 
"I need three pints of beer, stat!
And...three shots of whiskeyterall!" 

I'd get so drunk you'd pull out 
your de-fuck-you-laters, 
rubbing your hands together, 
you placed them on my breast, 
as if they could somehow bring me back. 

Shockingly, they couldn't. 

I move to the bathroom 
to pump my wheezing bladder, 
"One! Two!" Three pints later, 
she lost me, laying dead 
there on the table. 

The bartender yells last call 
like an official time of death. 

Then my ghost floats home 
to dream, to torment, 
or else to rest.



Author Bio:
Steve is a northwestern writer from Eugene, Oregon. He is an activist and poet who sometimes twists both together into barbed-wire arguments for as an argument for general freedom, often doubling as a plea for friends who have less of it than he enjoys. He encourages political involvement in every sector of society as a way to reinvent political dialogue, even thought it has rarely paid his bills. He believes, like W.E.B. DuBois and George Orwell, that ‘All art is propaganda.’

Steve graduated from the University of Oregon with a B.A. in English Literature. He was accepted into the UO Creative Writing Department’s Kidd Tutorial Program for poetry. He has been published in Monkey Bicycle and Unbound Lit magazines. He taught English in Mexico and has traveled across the country to do documentary-style videos with everyday people about their hopes and aspirations for our collective political future.
8 Comments
Rose
10/17/2018 12:57:11 am

This poem is very funny and sad! His voice is strong and passionate. I read it three times hoping for more. Well done.

Reply
Steve Coatsworth
4/2/2019 08:11:36 pm

Thanks, Rose! It wrote it at really tough time in my life when friends were dropping off bridges, fingering triggers, and sputtering-drunk. My social life was looking like Hamburger Hill in Vietnam, and I...did not deal productively with it (generally.) Glad I got a poem out of it, though! :)

Reply
Rose
11/16/2019 06:39:23 pm

Steve, You are so funny! Thanks for replying. Some of our best work is often inspired by horrible life experiences. I have hit rock bottom several times in my life. A bottle of whiskey, pen and paper were my best friends many times over. Not the best way to deal with pain...drinking that is..can lead us further down the rabbit hole to hell... faster than Trump's spell check function can keep up with is stupidity Ha ha. That being said, I hope your life is better now. Have you published anything else if you don't mind me asking? If not, I hope you do! Take care of yourself and keep writing, during the good times and the bad. It saves us. It reminds us that we've had better days and allows us to reflect on how far we have come. Xoxox Rose

Steve Coatsworth
10/29/2020 02:26:39 am

My friend and I have an entire poetry manuscript we finally got together at the end of 2018. If you'd like to read some of it, I'd send it over. I do absolutely require some hard-nosed criticism, however.

Let me know:
stevecoatsworth@gmail.com

Reply
Rose
2/27/2021 02:26:25 am

Hi Steve! Sorry, I haven't gotten back to you. Yes, I would love to read more of your poetry. Are you still working on it? Do I still have time to review it? Let me know! Hope life is treating you well. Cheers
Rose

Rose
3/2/2021 10:18:11 pm

Hey, I guess you are busy and I understand. My email is rose.is.writing@outlook.com. Send what you want, when you want. I'll give you my honest opinion ok? Rose

Karl Eysenbach
10/17/2018 12:30:51 pm

Steve -- You are a fabulous and prolific poet! You'll never get rich from doing this, but remember: Art is for art's sake. You're doing this because you know you can create things of beauty and grace. People see what you've done and you spread light around in places that you'll never even know.

Reply
Steve Coatsworth
4/2/2019 08:12:05 pm

Awww. Thanks, Karl!

Reply



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