My Left Foot by Victor Enns

November 24, 2022
Poem name: My Left Foot Poet name: Victor Enns Poem: Make no bones about it; my left foot carried its final edition in my genes since the day I was born. My left ankle’s collapse a birth defect; its ankle fusion fix a failure, confirmed too late by a CT scan for anyone to believe my foot’s pain was 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. There is bigger and better suffering everywhere, this close to the end times, pictures of fire and famine eclipse the sagging memory of my ragged metatarsal, bone giving way, under the operating theatre lights. End of poem. Credits and bio: Copyright © Victor Enns Previously published in LOVE & SURGERY (Radiant Press, 2019). “My Left Foot” was included in my collection LOVE & SURGERY. I am finishing a new collection called ALWAYS BREATHE. I was reminded of breath’s significance by being intubated and kept in a medically indued coma for five days in ICU, after a significant shortage of oxygen during a respiratory depression after a mistaken dosage prescribed by a doctor. Fortunately my wife Michelle Hewitt agreed to my intubation despite the skeptical doctors of whether a) I would live and b)how far my brain my recover. I am grateful to for my life and my recovery How much or even what has been lost or gained by this experience will never be clear, at least not to me. I was fortunate to get an extension of my CANADA COUNCIL for THE ARTS grant as work on my multi-media project called LOOK continues in Winnipeg with the performances being taped October 22. The exhibition, with much of the work complete will go up in Winnipeg in April.