Relationship Number 37 through 42

Relationship Number 37 through 42


There was a man who would slip you into the implausible bit of fat
on his belly, unbuckling unzipping and leaning back on the couch like a junkie: squeeze in the insulin. Afterwards he would smile, sweaty and flushed then light up a cigarette.

There was a guy who would draw inside you more than morphine. I was afraid; he,
with eyes as dark as his life moaned listless and intoxicated wanting to "just bang it up".
Afterwards he sometimes slept in the street as if dead in his own puke.

I too spent time Fixing: inserting the flawless steel into a sterile plastic cap, twisting the valve that let solution flow. I would watch the air bubble out and in my own habituation

lift the loose tabbied flesh, and pierce the back of my dying old cat. The liquid drained into the gaps
between his bones and skin so his thin flesh stretched and sagged. But he would lay watchful
and quite still. Afterwards I sometimes cried while I brushed his fading hair.




NOTE
Because the last stanza seems a bit macarbe I have included this note (so as not to worry people)

The last stanza describes the subcutaneous Ringers solution I used to give my cat; the vet showed me how to do this, so I could do it at home and my cat could be more comfortable (he would get more poorly when he stayed in the vets - did not like being away from home). It's given to cats with failing kidneys becuase they suffer from chronic dehydration and salt loss (like any kidney patient). The liquid adsorbs slowly into the body. Its really renal management and can prolong their lives considerably.