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Elegy for the Living

Elegy for the Living elegy for the living David Huddle Teresa, who's eighty-six now and in her thirty-third day at the hospital, has been in and out of the icu and her mind. Never an easy person, Teresa's so weak now it takes two people to move her from bed to chair, though within minutes she begs to be helped back into bed. Profoundly physically weak, Teresa's power has grown immense--in Florida, Vermont, Wisconsin, California, Texas, Teresa's brother, sister, daughters, granddaughters, sons-in-law, sister-in-law, old, old friends, all of us dream, talk, write, think mostly about Teresa. This morning shaving I remembered lashing out at Teresa to stop treating me like her yard boy, then was treated to remorse over words I spoke thirty years ago. Now Doctors have dictated whole books of medical orders for Teresa, nurses have devoted hundreds of hours of care to her, have administered Teresa drugs enough to murder ten rhinoceroses or end a third world epidemic, a machine has breathed for her the five days Teresa couldn't pull breath into her chest, they've shocked her heart back to its proper beat, they've lifted several thousand spoonfuls of food to Teresa's lips, they've given Teresa clean sheets two http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Appalachian Review University of North Carolina Press

Elegy for the Living

Appalachian Review , Volume 38 (4) – Oct 29, 2010

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Publisher
University of North Carolina Press
Copyright
Copyright © University of North Carolina Press
ISSN
1940-5081
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

elegy for the living David Huddle Teresa, who's eighty-six now and in her thirty-third day at the hospital, has been in and out of the icu and her mind. Never an easy person, Teresa's so weak now it takes two people to move her from bed to chair, though within minutes she begs to be helped back into bed. Profoundly physically weak, Teresa's power has grown immense--in Florida, Vermont, Wisconsin, California, Texas, Teresa's brother, sister, daughters, granddaughters, sons-in-law, sister-in-law, old, old friends, all of us dream, talk, write, think mostly about Teresa. This morning shaving I remembered lashing out at Teresa to stop treating me like her yard boy, then was treated to remorse over words I spoke thirty years ago. Now Doctors have dictated whole books of medical orders for Teresa, nurses have devoted hundreds of hours of care to her, have administered Teresa drugs enough to murder ten rhinoceroses or end a third world epidemic, a machine has breathed for her the five days Teresa couldn't pull breath into her chest, they've shocked her heart back to its proper beat, they've lifted several thousand spoonfuls of food to Teresa's lips, they've given Teresa clean sheets two

Journal

Appalachian ReviewUniversity of North Carolina Press

Published: Oct 29, 2010

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