*

Geoff Dyer, analyzing the tradition of writing about boxing by Faulkner, Thom Jones and other American fiction writers, describes a prosody of inarticulate articulateness: “To succeed,” he writes, “. . . language has to break itself up. Its clarity and precision are synonymous with its propensity for self-maiming. Its power is inextricably bound up with and dependent on its capacity to damage itself.”

                                                  *

In July 2010, Morgan’s lead cystic fibrosis doctor told him that based on his pulmonary function tests, he had a 50% chance of living five years without new lungs. As I write this a year later, after three more lengthy hospitalizations to address infections, Morgan has successfully completed the extensive testing making him eligible for double-lung transplant.

“When I get new lungs,” Morgan asks, “will I even be a poet? What will my line be like?”