Slow Mover edited

"Slow Mover"
by Stephen Shooster
Edited Susan C. Haley

DSC02680

Slow Mover Illustration (click to enlarge) 2009


There was a time . . . a roaring engine,
red and whites stripes, blurring to pink,
A Fast Mover . . . was my deepest need.
I'd roll down main street, revvin' at stoplights.
All heads would turn. All would envy my speed.

A Fast Mover . . . Me.


Then, my dad got news. Not the best,
A weakness in his arteries, a bomb ticking in his chest.

Within a week, my fast movin' world was still.
Upside down. Dad fights for his very life.
Mom and we brothers and sister play Scrabble in ICU waiting.
We fight for words to lessen our strife.
I let mom win every time to lighten her spirits,
Mostly because she's way better then me.

With a tube in his throat and heart exposed,

Dad's body cooled down.
We laughed irreverently in ICU waiting.

Nervously. Full-belly laughs.
We only held hope in our thoughts. No other choice.
Finally, eight hours later, dad, alive! Repaired.
Thinking back, all I wanted was a Fast Mover.

For dad, the only way back was through the chasm.

The only way back to our world, for him,
was through the deep valley, tested . . .
by a thousand challenges.
Bang! Restart the heart, stitch by stitch.
Thwack! Staples in the chest. Stitch by loving stitch.

Rolling down the caverned halls of O.R. into

the cave of 'step down', it's dark. He cant see a thing.
Attention flourishes, he hears noise. A subway assault.
"Who's breathing for me?" he thinks.
Lights flash. Drip . . . drip . . . drip
The enemy must have me tied down, he thinks
Kick! Nothing. No energy . . . sleep.
The only way back is through the chasm.

Bang! Awake again. Can't talk.

Drugs manage the captive . . .
You're awake, you're asleep.
Haze . . . noise . . . Who am I? Who's he? He thinks.

The robot in him responds . . .

"I must be captured!" Hands flail. "Must escape. Must warn . . .
Rest. Torture! Rest. Mind spins . . .
Marshaling strength, "I've broken my binds!"
No thought other then freedom. He jerks the tube

from his throat! Free . . . FREE!
Panic! I can't breathe . . . dying . . . trapped!

Medic! MEDIC! He sceams silently.
Saved! Oxygen . . . saved to escape!

Under fire. Head down! Taking fire. Grenade!
They got me! Captured. Truth serum. Can't . . . can't

fight no more! Delirium . . . Name, rank and serial . . .
Taking punches. I'm here, kind of . . . Delirium.

I hear fellow prisoners, "Get out! Get . . . RESist . . .
It's futile! Black shadows . . . Unconscious.

I'd be rolling, revving down main street, all heads turning.
A Fast Mover . . .

My buddies, they're saving me . . . away from the enemy.

Close call. Out of the cave. Weak . . . drifting. Sleep.
Safe for now. Re-group . . . Can't move.

Tired. Beyond tired. Stuck in the valley . . .
Dorothy? I call her name.
Strength returns. Slowly. Heart beating. Strength. Sleep.

Racing down main street in my Fast Mover. All heads turn.

Walls and toilets come into focus. Edge of the valley.

I see Dorothy. Kids. They get me on my feet.
So tired. They make me walk . . . walk anyway.
A walker, and teeth, and hearing aids, glasses.
I walk slowly, one step at a time, out of the valley.

The sun rises. Every morning, a routine.
Me, I get my slow mover ready for the new day.
One step. Another. I got my slow mover . . .
Who needs a fast car?
I got my slow mover . . . still. My dad. "Dad!"

His head turned . . .


Learn more about Susan C. Hanley at
http://www.sucarha.com/

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Slow Mover

Slow Mover
by Stephen Shooster

Once upon a time
I wanted a roaring engine
with red and whites stripes
a fast mover
I would roll down the main street
revving my engine at a stoplight
all heads would turn
a fast mover.


Then one day

My dad finds out
he has ticking time bomb in his chest
A weakness in the artery.
within a week my world is upside down
finding my mom and brothers playing Scrabble in the ICU waiting room
While my dad fights for his life.
I let my mom win every time,
to lighten her spirits. (and because she's way better then me)


with a tube in his throat
and heart exposed
Body cooled down.
We laugh irreverently, nervously, but full belly laughs.
We only held hope in our thoughts, no other choice.

Finally 8 hours later... alive.... repaired.

Thinking back all I wanted was a fast mover.

Now for my dad the only way back.... is through the chasm. The only way back to our world for him was through the deep valley. Being tested by 1,000 challenges.

Bang... Restart the heart
stitch by stitch
Thwack Thwack Staples in the chest.
Stitch by loving stitch, pronto.

Rolling down the cavern into the cave
its dark, he cant see a thing...
(the cave is the ICU the first step after surgery, no windows, lots of attention)

He hears noise. A subway assault.
He thinks, "Who is breathing for me?"
Lights flash drip, drip
He thinks, "The enemy must have me tied down."
Kick nothing... no energy... sleep.

The only way back is through the chasm.

Bang, awake again. Can't talk. (Drugs manage the patient a little of this and your awake, that your asleep)
Haze, noise.
He thinks, "Who am I? Who is he?
the robot in him responds.

He thinks. "I must be captured."
Rest, torture, rest.
Hands flail, he thinks "I must escape. can't talk, can't warn my buddies.
Marshaling strength I have broken my hand cuffs"

He thinks with no thought other then freedom, jerks the tube from his throat,
FREE, I I can't breath, dying, trapped, medic!

He thinks, saved! oxygen, saved.

He thinks, regrouping, have to escape. Under fire. Keep your head down. Taking fire. Grenade!
They got me. captured. Truth serum. Can't Can't fight no more delirium.
Name, Rank and Serial .... slurrr

Taking punches. I'm here, kind of... delirium... I hear fellow prisoners, “get out I tell them get out... Resist.”
It's futile - unconscious.


I would be driving down main street all heads turning
a fast mover...
Roarrrr


He thinks, "My buddies... they are saving me. Carrying me away from the enemy. Close call. Out of the cave. Hope they damaged those guys. Weak ... drifting... sleep.”

He thinks, "Safe for now."
Whew close call, re-group... just cant move. Tired beyond tired.

Nursing me back still stuck in the valley.
he thinks "Dorothy, I call her name... guide me."
my strength returns slowly, heart beating.
Again my fellow soldiers, rescue me. Drag me to a field hospital. More nurses strength sleep.

Racing down main street in my fast mover...
All heads turn.

He thinks, they sent me back to a real hospital. Walls and toilets come into focus. I must be out of the valley. I see Dorothy - "Hi."
Dorothy - "Hi" back
and kids...
they get me up on my feet... so tired
they make me walk.
hand me a walker
and teeth
and hearing aids
and glasses

I walk slowly
One step at a time
tired,
sit,
sleep
need help to move, anything.

the sun rises... they hand me my

teeth
my hearing aides
my glasses
my breathing toy
every morning a routine, draw blood...

Me, I get my slow mover ready for the day
One step... another.

I got my slow mover
who needs a fast car.

I got my slow mover... still... my dad.
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screaming confusion

Screaming Confusion

By Shoosty 11/19/2001 In memory of Bertha Alter 1908-2001 The winds of time churn up the dust that we came from The dust is thick and I cannot see My sight is muddled with tears An angel has touched me for 10 years and I did not know it I have been in the presence of genius, pure mind power That walked slowly I am hurt I want to scream, to shout about the loss I want to reaffirm my life. Make new commitments and keep them To protect, to shield It is better to know less then to touch the shell of an angel Escape, Transcendence, Freedom It is a common disease. We all have it Mortality Give pause; reflect on the person at the store whom you don’t know They are buying groceries to feed other angels Pain, Anguish… uncomfortable trappings of the flawed science of medicine There is always hope Yet, it is inevitable The peace we seek is not peace it stirs up the rest of the angels They are not angels when they are together They are too baseless… to unfeeling An angel is always considered “one” When you speak of angels you speak of many “ones”, The reason is they don’t interact, just reflect love and kindness The reason does not matter The act of kindness they project is there glowing silence and flight It is an inspiration I am lost, confused, reawakened I love my family and friends. Work offers no challenge that cannot be overcome. Nothing compares to my grief Even miracles are mire shadows in the awe of the giver and taker Even miracles are speechless We seek harmony; it is strange that to seek harmony we preach vigilance and train for fighting Isometrics

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Go and See - Tsenerene

Go and See

Tsenerene
shoosty 2007
dedicated to Leon Schagrin,
survivor of Auschswitz




I saw soldiers march into my town and want to be one.
Go out and see for yourself.

I have new roommates, guests thrust upon my home, I like them.
Go out and see.

They have rifles and let me play with them.
Come out and see they are well made not like farm tools.
Soon they leave. I will miss them. We became friends.
If you hurry you can see them leaving toward the Russian “front”.

I saw new soldiers come and visit with shiny boots and medals.
They look smart as fresh paint
Come out and see.

These soldiers are like werewolves, they change from human to animals whipped by Cerberus a dog with many heads.


They don’t like me, or my family or my friends.
I never see them laugh ‘cept in a condescending way.
You should see, if you don’t you might not believe me.

I heard a shot and now when I wake up I don’t hear Old Blue, the rooster, anymore.
I wonder if the monster, Cerberus, gobbled him up feathers flying?
If I come and see it might be me next time.

The monster is frenzied,
I guess blood does that flowing from a harmless pet.
I heard shots like others hear a summer storm.
Repulsed they make me see. I have been chosen not for any other reason ‘cept I look more like them then my brothers and friends. I have been chosen because I am 13 and don’t know any better. It helps to have a horse and a wagon. I don’t complain ‘bout my back just my stomach.
I wish I was asking you to come and see a little paradise, my family eating and laughing.
Go and see

It’s cold and grey. The monster grunts and commands “Pick up the mess my rifle has left”. No thought that it is flesh and bones. “Pick up the mess now”
If you don’t know one will take their belt off. No one will ask you twice. You have been chosen to pick up the mess or become part of it. Your choice. Your free will to live or die. Empty shells that used to be my neighbors lay waiting.
Come and see

Insanity is the monster. It kills only to count. Just numbers. The war machine is run by accountants using deadly currency. Just Numbers.
It says schizophrenically “Tomorrow will be a great world, just today we need to clean up with our rifles.” The prayers of those people are like daggers that laugh at us like we are powerless. It hurts to be ridiculed. We must eradicate them they are not like us. “Tomorrow is what we live for, your children”. The monster commands “Kill thousands and have the little beggar boys clean up your mess”
He has a shiny red wagon. I mean wooden and sturdy with a good horse. One day all the children of the motherland with have red wagons not wooden sturdy ugly ones. “first you must do what I ask” the monster groans with efficiency. A machine gun laughs finally – finality – the final solution for your laughing at me. “Now clean it up!”

The monster speaks short sentences. I don’t even think it thinks. How could it? If it could if would turn its cleaning tools upon itself. Unthinkable what it is doing. Where is Cerberus? How can we stop him we are unarmed?
Who will kill him and release these painful souls contorted for all time by there actions? Then can never return to family and friends. There worst enemy a simple mirror. If they look in the mirror they will not see anything, monsters, ghosts. If they happen to catch a glimpse of themselves they will not believe what they have become. Kids themselves on a few years ago.
Go and see.

I was once told to go to the headquarters. The head of Cerberus in my small town. It was not a head at all just a pus filled sore far from the barking monster.
Keep your shiny boots on. Good homeland boots thank G-d I have these to keep me far from the vermin. He thinks to himself, smitten.
Lucky he has no mirror or he might not see a face. But his boots are shiny and he keeps them polished. Cerberus and his friends like polished boots better to command its headless hordes.
You can’t come and see. They have only beckoned me, a 13 year old driver with a strong back and a sturdy cart.

The night is cool, refreshing. Good to cure open sores.
The “pus”-with-boots barks at me. Its Cerberus speaking from 100’s of miles away. The “pus” is not human he can’t even look in the mirror.
We go for a ride. Clop, clop goes the horse. He is a good horse. The fresh air could heal a sore… but not this one. This one is infected far too deeply. It’s in the body and most of the mind. Not much left. We see my friends, no not friends just two teenage girls, walking. We give them a ride. Maybe they can help to heal the “pus.”
The “pus” hates itself. Cerberus says “find me 10,000 souls, I am hungry and only eat souls, they are not like us, they are not human” said the three headed dog. “I will reward you with a bone or you can join them, your choice, your free will. Just don’t look in the mirror (Because it will be empty)”

The girls laugh and smile, we give them a ride. Maybe the giggling will jiggle something human. Maybe there is hope. Two couples mismatched “Pus”-in-Boots and Fairy Goddesses giggling.

“Drive” barks the distant head Cerberus with shiny boots, “up that road”. I don’t like it.
Come and see … Father, Mother, Sister, Brother, Neighbor, and Time Traveler – that’s you reading my story. Come and see for yourself.”

Laughter, the faceless monster has names I know them but I am just 13 a child, a driver, a strong back. I do know them and will never forget. I have to hide my knowing to survive.
Come and see. You must! You owe it for generations to come.

Everyone must learn the truth about this factory of killing.
The laughter stops abruptly, the monster starts cleaning. The girls become just bags of bones. The monster was out for a cool night stroll with my horse and me practicing de-humanizing. I am 13, a child. I have a strong back they bark to put it to use.
The road I don’t like leads to the Jewish Cemetery.
What a strange driver I am. Too many one way trips.
I visit here often. Being young I get stronger my emotions turn to leather.
Come and see
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