Saying the world / Peter Pereira.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Pereira, Peter, 1959-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Physicians--Poetry.

Physicians.

Medicine--Poetry.

Medicine.

Genre:

Poetry.

Physical Description:

viii, 78 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Port Townsend, Wash. : Copper Canyon Press, [2003]

Summary:

Peter Pereira is at the forefront of a national movement of medical practitioners who utilize literature as a part of their training. "Saying the World" arises from his practice as a family physician serving the urban poor, as well as his experience as a childless gay man.

Selected from over one thousand entries in the Hayden Carruth Award, judges Gregory Orr and Sam Hamill cited Pereira's work as "full of stunning poems" and noted that Pereira "has the magic touch that William Carlos Williams had--the ability to be doctor and poet simultaneously, and to make it all so simply, deeply, and translucently human that the poems seem inevitable."

from "First Crash Cesarean"

"Hold it like a wand," you say as I guide the blade across shaved skin, into layers of yellow fat and fascia stained crimson. With gloved fingers we tug at the wound's gaping edges until we've exposed the bulging uterus, round and smooth as a giant D'Anjou pear. Only minutes ago, I wrote the words "fetal distress" and panting she signed consent to open her belly.Now I imagine her baby is like Houdini jacketed inside a treasure chest five fathoms down, mouth gagged, lungs bursting, time running out . . .

Contents:

Nosophilia 3

Fetus Papyraceous 7

Intern 8

First Crash Cesarean 10

Baby Made of Flowers 12

Hydrocephalic 13

Her Name Is Rose 14

Murmur 15

The Wages of Mercy 17

Labyrinthitis 19

Litany 20

What Is Lost 23

A Hole in the Web 25

What Matters 27

Breath 28

Dans le Palais Nostalgique 29

Take Care 31

Chambered Nautilus 35

Echolalia 37

The Boy Who Played with Dolls 38

Kafka's Grave 39

Black Narcissus 40

Suite for a Sister 41

Vincent 44

Hiking to Tsagaglalal Petroglyph, Thinking of Guy Anderson at 90 45

Winterbloom 46

Melancholia 47

Window Seat 51

Learning to Two-Step 52

The Birth of Flowers 53

Senseless Beauty 55

Shadow and Spirit 56

Loft Bedroom, Tranquility Cottage, Orcas Island 58

In August, My Sister 59

Waiting for Sophocles 60

Pas de Deux 61

Lost 62

Winter Stripping 64

The Winepress 65

Double Magnolia 66

April Elms 67

Peaches 68

A Pot of Red Lentils 70

Giving Way 71

Coming Home Late 72

The Late Rose 73

Putting the Garden to Rest 74

Saying the World 75.

Notes:

"2002 Hayden Carruth Award."

ISBN:

1556591977

OCLC:

52092815