Second souffle

“Come close to me, all of you, so that together we may form a body capable of surviving a little longer.” These powerful words are not those of a man who has reached the end of his journey, but those of a young poet who entrusts language with the task of guiding his heart. A father suffering from a chronic respiratory condition, patients who need to put their suffering into words, doctors who help them fight… That was all Arthur Scanu needed to begin writing a text that substitutes the breath of poetry for the oxygen growing scarce in obstructed lungs. Words against ailments, a tiny bit of gentleness in the face of pain, a raw sensitivity to soothe, relieve, and perhaps heal. Never has a poem sung so beautifully of life, that fragile miracle.