Podcast of "the service of palpitations"

"the service of palpitations" by Cheryl Wood Ruggiero appears in the 9.4 (Summer 2005) issue of The 2River View. Listen to the poem by clicking the title.

the service of palpitations

benign
say the physicians
it means nothing
when your heart
shakes a fist
in your chest

it means nothing
when your heart lets the rope
slip
and rappels sleep
far down the cliff
of consciousness
leaving you solitary
at the edge
with only the streetlight
filtering mindlessly orange
through gauze curtains

it is benign
when your heart offers you
death's cock-crow
as a familiar
waking after waking
so terror will be worn to a wispy rag
of morning twilight
by the time you arrive
at the fleeing edge of shadow
before that unquestionable dawn