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Annotated by:
- Coulehan, Jack
- Date of entry: Oct-27-1999
Summary
Once in a while someone fights for breath. The crowd around him continues with its business, not realizing that inside the man there might be something drastic going on. There might be a sea monster growing, or a raven named Nevermore, or "a huge muteness of fairy tales," or "the wood-block baby that gobbles up everything." Medical tests show that the lung is vanishing and becoming "an abandoned room" in a queer world where "only surgeons / write poems." [34 lines]
Miscellaneous
Translated by David Young and Dana Habrova.
Primary Source
Vanishing Lung Syndrome
Publisher
Oberlin College Press
Place Published
Oberlin,Ohio
Edition
1990
Commentary
The inside of a person is an intractable mystery. You may believe that medical tests can describe the lay of the land and identify the problem. After all, it's only a man fighting for his breath. But what happens when the lung simply vanishes? How can you explain that? Perhaps the surgeon has to lay down his knife and turn to poetry for an answer.