{"id":1582,"date":"2012-07-28T07:54:31","date_gmt":"2012-07-27T20:54:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robwalkerpoet.com\/?p=1582"},"modified":"2012-07-28T08:00:59","modified_gmt":"2012-07-27T21:00:59","slug":"the-finger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.robwalkerpoet.com\/?p=1582","title":{"rendered":"The Finger"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/object><\/p>\n

The Finger.<\/p>\n

Originally written as why I didn\u2019t go to mike ladd\u2019s 50th<\/sup> birthday party, <\/em>a kind of \u2018the dog ate my homework\u2019 letter of apology to my Max-Mo mate, poet Mike Ladd. The story\u2019s 100% true. I still lack feeling (and always will) in the finger tip, making certain guitar chords and shakuhachi notes difficult. My carelessness also resulted in missing a really good party by all accounts. But quite a decent poem came out of it\u2026 Thanks to Anandamine for the cool music & production.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Why I missed Mike Ladd\u2019s 50th<\/sup> Birthday Party.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The tractor-mower hits a stump on the slope and<\/p>\n

flips in a second. Thrown off, earphones ripped from<\/p>\n

the iPod when Sergio is between mas que na<\/em> and da.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Then an adrenalin-fuelled leap to avoid<\/p>\n

being crushed between tractor and post<\/p>\n

and trailing fingers go thump in the blades.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the eyes see the end of the finger hanging,<\/p>\n

a flap of mincemeat, a second thump of the heart \u2013<\/em><\/p>\n

orchestral stab in a horror movie soundtrack.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The other hand squeezes<\/p>\n

mashed flesh to stem the flow.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The drive to Flinders Medical Centre, cold sweat<\/p>\n

dripping into eyes, blood dripping on gumboots,<\/p>\n

willing myself to breathe slowly. Pain like hot needles.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Triage, grass-clippings on the ER floor<\/p>\n

Calming pulse, x-rays. The matter-of-fact<\/p>\n

Egyptian surgeon with French accent.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

At first my eyes clamp shut but<\/p>\n

he works for almost an hour reconnecting<\/p>\n

nerves, tissues and finally skin.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I watch him fascinated as he reconstructs<\/p>\n

the end of my ring finger,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

a busted raw sausage held together<\/p>\n

with fine blue thread.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a9 rob walker, 2011.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Originally published as why I missed Mike Ladd\u2019s 50th<\/sup> birthday party<\/em><\/p>\n

in Metabolism<\/strong>: Australian Poetry Members Anthology<\/strong>, <\/strong>an e-journal released in early 2012<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

ISBN: 978-0-9871-7650-9 Dewey Number: A821.3<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  The Finger. Originally written as why I didn\u2019t go to mike ladd\u2019s 50th birthday party, a kind of \u2018the dog ate my homework\u2019 letter of apology to my Max-Mo mate, poet Mike Ladd. The story\u2019s 100% true. I still … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robwalkerpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robwalkerpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robwalkerpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robwalkerpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robwalkerpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1582"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.robwalkerpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1587,"href":"https:\/\/www.robwalkerpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1582\/revisions\/1587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.robwalkerpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robwalkerpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.robwalkerpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}