Sport 40: 2012
1925 Henry Soutter does the unthinkable
1925 Henry Soutter does the unthinkable
There are no straight lines in the human body
even when the heart is wrung out to dry
there will be other routes—journeys
ia small balloon through
the artery of a leg or the underside
of a thigh, here people walking past
look into my window as if they might see
my surgeon’s hands at work, the whiff
of wrongdoing, a pig’s heart sewn inside
an empty chamber, an opening
in the atrium where once I carefully poked
my finger in order to palpate
the heart valve of a woman
laid bare before me on the gurney
no harm done though once she was
stitched my colleagues
scattered like geese
throughout the hospital wards
Outside I touched earth, called upon it as witness
I too, am learning to heal myself
Note: Soutter was not permitted to do this pioneer operation again.