Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago

---

The Dead & the Quick

By Aya Katz

The brain is not dead
And the patient is quick,
But his organs are there
For the harvest to pick.
The quick and the dead,
The healthy and sick,
Have organs to spare
And the system is slick.
Perhaps we will sell
His organs for perks—
But can you not tell
That the brain still works?
We used to say “dead”
When the heart did not beat,
And later instead
When the brain waves deplete.
But now we perform
Dissecting for parts,
And the body is warm
When we harvest the hearts.
Oh how will we know
Who is quick and who’s dead?
And the brain that still works—
Shall we sell that instead?