E26 Alcestis by Rebekka DePew

Description: 
An immersive reading of Alcestis by Rebekka DePew with reflection on resuscitation, life after death, and work-home balance.

Website:
https://anauscultation.wordpress.com/ 

Work:
Alcestis 
by Rebekka DePew

Those who die and then return are
often silent
which has never once been attributed to
having seen god

sometimes when I come back
I do not speak

sometimes when I come back
I smell on my children's breath
the tinge of flesh left too long unfed
sinew without nerve
we are lightning set to smolder

I know that now

before I left I was told
that the sun and the moon were too heavy for
the same sky

I was not told that death would linger
I was not told that the river Styx was petty
and bureaucratic I was not told

that I would always see the
asphodel in its upperworld daffodil shadows
and never again fit like salt into water in

this living world with its
olive trees and vineyards
and chamomile tea in the evening

I belong to another world
one that does not know what to make
of such things

References

Alcestis: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M22-1169 

DePew R. Alcestis. Ann Intern Med. 2023;176(3):422. doi:10.7326/M22-1169

 Enjabment: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/learn/glossary-terms/enjambment 

 More poems by Rebekka DePew

https://ars-medica.ca/index.php/journal/search/index?query=Rebekka+DePew&dateFromYear=&dateFromMonth=&dateFromDay=&dateToYear=&dateToMonth=&dateToDay=&authors= 

https://www.acpjournals.org/action/doSearch?AllField=Rebekka+DePew 

https://jamanetwork.com/searchresults?q=Rebekka%20DePew&allSites=1&SearchSourceType=1&exPrm_qqq={DEFAULT_BOOST_FUNCTION}%22Rebekka%20DePew%22&exPrm_hl.q=Rebekka%20DePew