\nDr. Revici claims, can be measured
\nby small changes in ph.
\nI buy a package bulging with glass bottles.
\nThis one drink, these two inject.\u00a0<\/em>
\nThe others put in capsules. Write down\u00a0<\/em>
\nalkaline or acid. Very simple.<\/em><\/p>\n
Three times a day I pee on a strip In childhood it was my job to test the water. Too red meant a cup of powder poured My brother and I swam for hours, diving One day I tried laps. Thirty-five, thirty-six, the water Ninety-nine. The final push <\/p>\n Bilious lump, the liver festers for decades. of fever, hair loss, muscle pain, The herbal master mutters, heavy sacks. I boil, Acupuncture, soul retrieval, a slick clam shells, oil of oregano, green tea\u2026 a lucky midlife woman planning beaten by the long arm I am a cautionary tale. Another Treatment The difference between hopelessness and remission, Dr. Revici claims, can be measured by small changes in ph. I buy a package bulging with glass bottles. This one drink, these two inject.\u00a0 The others put in capsules. Write down\u00a0 alkaline or acid. Very simple. Three times a day I pee on a strip … <\/p>\n
\nand wait for color to rise.
\nYou\u2019re a swimming pool<\/em>, my husband jokes.<\/p>\n
\nI dunked the plastic rectangle
\nuntil both compartments filled, then carefully
\ncarried it to the basement shelf where chemicals
\nwere stored. Shook the bottles. Added three drops
\nto each side and watched the water bloom.<\/p>\n
\nin the deep end; too yellow and I\u2019d unscrew the top
\nfrom the chlorine bucket, eyes and nose burning,
\ngrab a tablet and take it to the filter\u2019s net.<\/p>\n
\nfor pennies our parents threw, taking turns
\nwith the good mask. I could hold my breath
\nthe whole length, slide my belly across the smooth
\nbottom, practice somersaults and handstands
\nuntil my fingers pruned and lips blued.<\/p>\n
\nWinded by five, I took weeks
\nto build to ten. Another week to fifteen,
\nthen twenty \u2013 breaststroke, backstroke, crawl \u2013
\na steady striving through water
\nsuddenly spacious and yielding as sky.<\/p>\n
\nchilled in spots weak morning sun had yet to find.
\nForty-seven, forty-eight, my rhythm
\nthe earth\u2019s rhythm, fatigue fallen away. Sixty,
\nsixty-one, sixty-two, I swam
\nbeyond thinking. Beyond time.<\/p>\n
\nof feet against side,
\nglide, then stroke, one hundred.
\nI pulled myself out,
\nstood dripping and triumphant on cobblestones;
\ngulped the sweet late summer air. Certain
\nmy body could do anything.<\/p>\nHep C<\/h2>\n
\nholds a virus like a grudge. Silently<\/p>\n
\nMy doctor offers 40-60 odds, a year<\/p>\n
\nanemia. Calls me foolish for refusing.<\/p>\n
\nstagnant anger<\/em>, hands me<\/p>\n
\nthen choke down the odiferous brew.<\/p>\n
\nhypnotist\u2019s low drone, powdered<\/p>\n
\nBefore, I was<\/p>\n
\nfamily camping trips. Now,<\/p>\n
\nof the body\u2019s law,<\/p>\n
\nThe one that almost got away.<\/p>\n
\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/vice-versa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/headshot.jpeg\")
<\/a>Alison Stone<\/strong><\/span> has published three chapbooks and six full-length collections: Caught in the Myth<\/em> (NYQ Books, 2019); Dazzle<\/em> (Jacar Press, 2017); Masterplan<\/u>,<\/em> a book of collaborative poems with Eric Greinke (Presa Press, 2018);<\/u> Ordinary Magic<\/em> (NYQ Books, 2016); Dangerous Enough<\/u> (Presa Press 2014); and They Sing at Midnight,<\/em> which won the 2003 Many Mountains Moving Poetry Award. Her poems have appeared in the Paris Review<\/em>, Poetry<\/em>, Ploughshares<\/em>, Barrow Street, Poet Lore<\/em>, and many other journals and anthologies. She has been awarded Poetry<\/em>\u2019s Frederick Bock Prize and New York Quarterly<\/em>\u2019s Madeline Sadin Award. She was writer-in-residence at LitSpace St. Pete. She is also a painter and the creator of The Stone Tarot<\/a>. A licensed psychotherapist, she has private practices in NYC and Nyack.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"