POeT SHOTS is a monthly series published on the third Tuesday of the month. It features work by established writers followed by commentary and insight by Ed Krizek.
Parkinson’s Disease
by Galway Kinnell
While spoon-feeding him with one hand
she holds his hand with her other hand,
or rather lets it rest on top of his,
which is permanently clenched shut.
When he turns his head away, she reaches
around and puts in the spoonful blind.
He will not accept the next morsel
until he has completely chewed this one.
His bright squint tells her he finds
the shrimp she has just put in delicious.
Next to the voice and touch of those we love,
food may be our last pleasure on earth—
a man on death row takes his T-bone
in small bites and swishes each sip
of the jug wine around in his mouth,
tomorrow will be too late for them to jolt
this supper out of him. She strokes
his head very slowly, as if to cheer up
each separate discomfited hair sticking up
from its root in his stricken brain.
Standing behind him, she presses
her check to his, kisses his jowl,
and his eyes seem to stop seeing
and do nothing but emit light.
Could heaven be a time, after we are dead,
of remembering the knowledge
flesh had from flesh? The flesh
of his face is hard, perhaps
from years spent facing down others
until they fell back, and harder
from years of being himself faced down
and falling back in his turn, and harder still
from all the while frowning
and beaming and worrying and shouting
and probably letting go in rages.
His face softens into a kind
of quizzical wince, as if one
of the other animals were working at
getting the knack of the human smile.
When picking up a cookie he uses
both thumbtips to grip it
and push it against an index finger
to secure it so that he can lift it.
She takes him then to the bathroom,
where she lowers his pants and removes
the wet diaper and holds the spout of the bottle
to his old penis until he pisses all he can,
then puts on the fresh diaper and pulls up his pants.
When they come out, she is facing him,
walking backwards in front of him
and holding his hands, pulling him
when he stops, reminding him to step
when he forgets and starts to pitch forward.
She is leading her old father into the future
as far as they can go, and she is walking
him back into her childhood, where she stood
in bare feet on the toes of his shoes
and they foxtrotted on this same rug.
I watch them closely: she could be teaching him
the last steps that one day she may teach me.
At this moment, he glints and shines,
as if it will be only a small dislocation
for him to pass from this paradise into the next.
In this poem Galway KInnell finds a different way to look at one of the most debilitating diseases in the world today. The poet paints the scene with expressive language and let’s us know that the subject of the poem is loved:” While spoon-feeding him with one hand / she holds his hand with her other hand,…”. Kinnell goes on to chronicle the events he witnesses as “she” takes care of her father.: “She is leading her old father into the future / as far as they can go, and she is walking/ him back into her childhood, where she stood / in bare feet on the toes of his shoes / and they foxtrotted on this same rug.” The poet speculates on his own end of life where “ I watch them closely: she could be teaching him / the last steps that one day she may teach me.” Kinnell concludes that these last earthly experiences form a kind of “paradise” where one gets to take care of someone who once took care of you. The circle is complete.
Some have accused Kinnell of romanticizing a horrible disease. But isn’t that what we do as poets? Try to show a truth behind the horror? If one just accepts that Parkinson’s is a difficult disease at best and a terrible disease to watch then we might all as well just give up and wring our hands blaming God for all our troubles. There is no cure for Parkinson’s disease. Treatments can extend life, but it is always debilitating and fatal. But so is life. Isn’t wonderful to look at despair and find something positive?
To hear Galway Kinnell read this poem, click here.
Ed Krizek holds a BA and MS from University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA and MPH from Columbia University. For over twenty years Ed has been studying and writing poetry. He is the author of six books of poetry: Threshold, Longwood Poems, What Lies Ahead, Swimming With Words, The Pure Land, and This Will Pass. All are available on Amazon. Ed writes for the reader who is not necessarily an initiate into the poetry community. He likes to connect with his readers on a personal level.