SAINT JULIAN PRESS POET
Catharine Clark-Sayles
Expectant
We argued most over “expectant” – the soldiers so broken
that they would likely die but will tie up hours and personnel--
best left in a quiet corner, given morphine if they moaned.
Practice triage, our group of novice Army doctors
prepared for a future battlefield, hypothetical disasters.
The orthopedic resident was quiet, as we read each history
of injury, decided where each soldier went: minor patches--
like X-rays and a splint or a burn small enough to wrap
we took care of at the triage station.
Some we marked as “urgent”, sent immediately
for surgery, to cut out bullets, pick shrapnel, sew
the punctures, amputate the mangled leg.
After we marked off the last imagined wounded,
the ortho resident said: “In Vietnam, I was shot
through the neck, assigned Expectant but stayed alive.
Fourteen hours later, a surgeon looked again and tried.
I don’t remember air-evac, the early days state-side,
a blur of hospitals and surgeries, recovery very slow.
They said I was too old to be a doctor and maybe so,
but here I am.”
that they would likely die but will tie up hours and personnel--
best left in a quiet corner, given morphine if they moaned.
Practice triage, our group of novice Army doctors
prepared for a future battlefield, hypothetical disasters.
The orthopedic resident was quiet, as we read each history
of injury, decided where each soldier went: minor patches--
like X-rays and a splint or a burn small enough to wrap
we took care of at the triage station.
Some we marked as “urgent”, sent immediately
for surgery, to cut out bullets, pick shrapnel, sew
the punctures, amputate the mangled leg.
After we marked off the last imagined wounded,
the ortho resident said: “In Vietnam, I was shot
through the neck, assigned Expectant but stayed alive.
Fourteen hours later, a surgeon looked again and tried.
I don’t remember air-evac, the early days state-side,
a blur of hospitals and surgeries, recovery very slow.
They said I was too old to be a doctor and maybe so,
but here I am.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Catharine Clark-Sayles grew up in a military family, went to medical school, and became an Army doctor, followed by a private internal medicine and geriatrics practice. In 2019 she completed an MFA in poetry and narrative medicine at the Dominican University of California. Tebot Bach Press published previous collections, One Breath and Lifeboat and a chapbook, Brats,published by Finishing Line Press. The Telling, The Listening is her fourth book drawn from forty-five years of medical practice.
Catharine Clark-Sayles grew up in a military family, went to medical school, and became an Army doctor, followed by a private internal medicine and geriatrics practice. In 2019 she completed an MFA in poetry and narrative medicine at the Dominican University of California. Tebot Bach Press published previous collections, One Breath and Lifeboat and a chapbook, Brats,published by Finishing Line Press. The Telling, The Listening is her fourth book drawn from forty-five years of medical practice.
|
Publication Date: October 6, 2023
Paperback: $18.00 Publisher: Saint Julian Press, Inc. Language: English Paperback: 84 pages ISBN-13: 978-1-955194-18-1 For an advance copy, contact: Ron Starbuck or Catharine Clark-Sayles. |
Available Through ~ Ingram Content Group ~ Amazon ~ Barnes & Noble ~ IndieBound ~ Bookshop ~ Book Depository (UK) ~ Fine Book Distributors & Retailers
Saint Julian Press, Inc. * Houston, TX 77008 * Ron Starbuck ~ Publisher-CEO
Email: ronstarbuck@saintjulianpress.com * Web: www.saintjulianpress.com
Saint Julian Press, Inc. * Houston, TX 77008 * Ron Starbuck ~ Publisher-CEO
Email: ronstarbuck@saintjulianpress.com * Web: www.saintjulianpress.com
SAINT JULIAN PRESS, INC. © 2022
|
|
|
|
Web Hosting by IPOWER
|
|
|
Some pages may include Amazon Associates Program Links for Saint Julian Press, Inc.
As an Amazon Associate — Saint Julian Press, Inc. may earn funds from any qualifying purchases.
This arrangement does help to sustain the press and allow us to publish more books by more authors.
As an Amazon Associate — Saint Julian Press, Inc. may earn funds from any qualifying purchases.
This arrangement does help to sustain the press and allow us to publish more books by more authors.