Terry Dawley

SHOT THREE TIMES

Having been shot three times
my body is well acquainted with
the piercing sting of hot-metal
as it rips through flesh,
shattering bone, slicing tendon,
opening vein, exploding
nerve endings in white-fire pain.

Having been shot three times
my body is well acquainted with
the mind-dope of morphine,
chill of an operating room,
fog of recovery,
teeth-gritting rehab, fighting
to regain what I once had.

Having been shot three times
my body is well acquainted with
the disfigurement of limb, and scars
that will forever mar the mind and skin.


Gerald So reads "Shot Three Times":



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Terry confesses: "In the early morning hours of July 7, 2000, I was in a close-quarter gun battle with a suspect in which twenty-three rounds were exchanged within seconds, leaving me with three gunshot wounds and him with four. This poem is about what it’s like to have been shot and the aftermath."

TERRY DAWLEY is a retired police officer from Erie, Pennsylvania. His work has appeared in Pithead Chapel, The Cleveland Review, Mused BellaOline Literary Journal, Soft Cartel, and Law Enforcement Today. He is an award winner of the Writer's Digest 80th Annual Writing Competition and a six-time award winner of the Pennwriters Annual Writing Contest.