get the June 2014 108 page cc&d magazine
1994-1997 anniversary
issue supplement collection 6" x 9" ISBN#
paperback book:
Life Scars
alan catlin
I got the first one
when I was three,
fell off a rock and
put a tooth through
the inside of my lip.
They said it would
heal up fine, sort of -
go away with time -
but it didnąt, it left
a lump on my lip
I can tease
with my tongue.
They next one came
when I was four,
mother hit me
with the vaccum cleaner
above the left eye.
The Doctor said:
łShe must vaccum
with a vengance.˛
And she did.
I fell out of a palm
tree when I was six.
Woke up in a nightmare
of a hospital full of
doctors and nurses
all dressed up
in white gowns and
masks, I was not
supposed to wake up in.
I was sure I was dead
and this is what happened
to little boys who disobeyed
their mothers and afterwards
I was dizzy for years
and even now looking down
from high places is
a spinning vortex
of bad dreams and hanging
knives in the kitchen
where I cut my hand
for the first time
and mother said I didnąt
need stitches but when
I cut it the second time
the doctor was amazed I could
still move my hand having
severed those tendons
in the same place twice
and the nerve was half dead
and Iąd better watch
my step or Iąd never feel
a thing ever again
which would have been fine
when I cut the tip of my finger
half off trying to catch
the falling Pyrex mixing glass
and mother said I didnąt
need it stitched and I
still canąt touch anything
with that finger because
it didnąt heal right,
so when I stabbed myself
with the paring knife and
she said, it was just
a superficial cut I king of,
smiled real funny like,
wiped the spurting blood
on her blouse and said:
łIf you wash it in cold water,
the blood will come out.˛
But, it didnąt and that cut
left a long white scar,
just like all the others.
