Literature, Arts, and Medicine Database

• Art

  • Annotations
  • Artists
  • Meet the Artist
  • Viewing Room *
  • Annotated Art Books
  • Art in Literature

• Literature

  • Annotations
  • Authors
  • Meet the Authors *
  • Listening Room *
  • Reading Room *

• Performing Arts

  • Film/Video/TV Annotations
  • Screening Room *
  • Theater *

• Editors' Choices

  • Choices
  • Editor's Biosketch
  • Indexes
  • Book Order Form

• Search

  • Annotation Search
  • People Search
  • Keyword (Topic)
  • Annotator
  • Free Text Search

Literature Annotations

Coulehan, Jack Poison

	On-Line Text
Genre	Poem
Keywords	Death and Dying, Father-Son Relationship
Summary	The narrator of this poem is the father who is dying. He takes all kinds of pills in different colors which he identifies, perhaps correctly, as poisons. He knows he is dying and so does his son, who brings him his medicine and "sees poison in my eyes." The last few lines are especially touching: "He wants to take my hand, but he's / afraid. That's two of us. / For heart I take a white one once."
Source	First Photographs of Heaven
Publisher	Nightshade
Edition	1994
Place Published	Troy, Maine
Alternate Source	J. Amer. Med. Assoc., 271: 474 (1994)
Annotated by	Donley, Carol
Date of Entry	03/16/95
Last Revised	08/21/96