i'm gonna jump in the river three times i'm only gonna come up twice
the tube coming out of her left arm
pumps life back into her system
or more accurately
allows the possibility of life
to flow back through her veins
when the young man arrives at the hospital
she does not say hello
but tells him that she is going to jump in the river
she asks him to take her home
she is slave to the drugs
they have pumped into her
they attack her stomach
and insist she puke the poison
life being run into her, she denies it
she insists on refusing it
wants out
wants the darkness to surround her
the young man, her son
hears hank williams singing
" i'm gonna jump in the river three times,
i'm only gonna come up twice"
no one else hears it, it is his song alone
as he stands at the side of her bed
watches sleep take her away from him
closer to the darkness she craves
Copyright © michael dennis/ South Western Ontario Poetry 1983
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