A tourniquet will work
unless it doesn’t.
They don’t
tell you what to do then
if the artery is torn
behind the soft pocket
of an armpit, or thigh
where it meets the pelvis,
where the external
iliac becomes the femoral.
In that cased pack
with gauze the spaces
that could hold gallons
if we had gallons.
Press a small wadding
against the vessel.
One–for–one exchange:
your fingers with gauze,
your fingers
with gauze—
To simulate: take a fistful of sand,
walk into the ocean.
Tighten your fist. The sand
will run out.
