The crowd at first thought it part of the reading
\nthe gasp, the slumping forward over the podium
\na bit melodramatic, but you expect that<\/p>\n
surging forward, folding chairs flung to the side
\nthey reached him, the first few able to cushion
\nhis fall to the floor and they laid him on his back<\/p>\n
shouts of \u2018call 9-1-1!\u2019 and \u2018let me through!\u2019
\nechoed throughout the small bookstore as a
\nwoman pushed to the front \u2018let me through!\u2019<\/p>\n
she was small, middle-aged; dishwater blonde
\nhair pulled back in a waist-length ponytail
\nstylish sunglasses were perched on her head<\/p>\n
crouching down beside the stricken bard the
\nwoman ripped open his shirt, felt his rib cage;
\nshe took a deep breath, began CPR\u2026and sang<\/p>\n
\u201cAh, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive\u2026\u201d
\n\u201cAre you a doctor?\u201d yelled one bystander
\n\u201cAre you a nurse!?\u201d said another<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u201cNo\u201d she huffed between chest pumps, \u201cI\u2019m a poet\u201d
\nStunned, the onlookers could only watch in amazement
\nas the man\u2019s face began to lose its pallor. Sirens approached\u2026<\/p>\n\u201cWhether you’re a brother or whether you’re a mother<\/em>
\nYou’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive\u2026. Feel the city breakin’<\/em>
\nand everybody shakin’ and we’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive..\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nOxygen mask in place, the man was being wheeled to waiting
\nambulance; the crowd applauded, he gave them a \u00a0\u2018thumbs up\u2019
\nwith one hand, autographed a copy of his anthology with the other<\/p>\nThe poet who had saved him was retying her ponytail while
\nwiping away the sweat from her forehead with a towel she had
\nbeen handed; everyone looked at her with curious awe<\/p>\n\u201cYou are wondering about the song; \u2018Staying Alive\u2019<\/em> has a rhythm
\nof 103 beats per minute which is close to the 100\u00a0compressions
\nper 60 seconds that should be delivered during CPR.\u201d<\/p>\nStunned, the crowd stood silently as the poet continued,
\n\u201cIn reality, most of the Bee Gees lyrics can be said in rhythmic
\ncouplets that fit the standard CPR quatrains. Try \u2018Night Fever\u2019<\/em>.”<\/p>\nThe poet finished with her hair, picked up her shoulder bag
\n\u201cCan the same thing work for giving someone the Heimlich?\u201d
\n\u201cNo\u201d she replied ruefully. \u201cTo Heimlich properly, you need Neruda.\u201d<\/p>\nShe slung her bag over her shoulder, and walked into the night<\/p>\n
– Mark L. Lucker<\/em>
\n\u00a9 2016<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The crowd at first thought it part of the reading the gasp, the slumping forward over the podium a bit melodramatic, but you expect that surging forward, folding chairs flung to the side they reached him, the first few able to cushion his fall to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":694,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,441,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-miscellaneous","category-poetry-prompt-responses","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26267","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/694"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26267"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26267\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26310,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26267\/revisions\/26310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26267"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26267"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thepoetrymarathon.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26267"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}