Electrocardiogram

The repolarization of a t wave

an ocean roller over an invisible sand bar, a lull

until a p wave begins its small rise above the isoelectric

the chop of look-at-me qrs’s

not called complexes for nothing

peaks, troughs, weddings, divorces

births transforming more than bodies into mothers

and deaths

underneath the swells

salt churns cold and warm currents

a low t wave stretches into a u

waves in succession

storms of qrs’s surging into t’s

wide and lopsided as sinking freighters

till a pause between series

the ocean a windless lake

no more p’s, no more qrs’s, no more t’s

this is my autobiography:

the story of a wave

and then the next