I was drunk and I thought I could make it
across the wash in my truck.
I was dead when they dragged me out.
They put me in a body bag
and took me to the morgue.
An hour later as they were opening the bag
I just came back to life.
No one has been able to understand it,
the doctors are mystified.
But, here I am.

Later I told my wife I didn’t see
any lights or tunnels and there weren’t any
voices or god damned spirit guides.
There was blackness
and nothingness
a dark silence
that went on and on.
Well, she went to stay with her mother
in Yuma.
I don’t blame her.
4 hours is a long time.

I’m not a brave man.
But, I slept in Death’s bed
and I learned Death’s secrets.

I learned it has no secrets.

Mather Schneider is a 39 year old cab driver in Tucson. He lives with a Mexican girl who is teaching him Spanish. He has won no awards and has received no college graduation diplomacies. His work has appeared in the small press since 1995 and he has a full length book coming out by Interior Noise Press this fall.