Friday, December 23, 2011

Magnetic Imaging

Magnetic Imaging
Highland Hospital – December 23, 2011

The needle slides
In the hospital waiting room a man sits
With a pinch, then through
Still as a zen master waiting for – what?
And the muscles flinch
Results? His wife? The TV Commercial to end?
Her apology, her smile
Someone opens a pack of peanut butter crackers
Gentle as she peels back
Unable to squelch the screech of cellophane wrapper coming undone
Another sharp, and prepares
Women and men wearing scrubs pull on their coats
To try again, finger flicking
Call Merry Christmas across the hall
A vein bulging for her in invitation,
As darkness fills the only window
The second needle slips in
to what light there was outside today
And as she pulls back, blood fills
She checks the time,
the reservoir, she smiles
freshens her lipstick,
flushes the vein with saline,
pulls another section of the Times
and hands him over
from her bag
to the technician,
re-folds his jacket,
“He’s all yours, now,”
Counts her blessings.

© Lou Faber and Elaine Heveron

1 comments:

elainehev said...

After walking to the hospital, so close to our house, Lou had his MRI today. I suggested we write a poem, every other line his, every other line mine. He said, I already wrote about it. I said, So dd I. Here is the poem we wrote, by combining our poems.His lines are normal font; my lines are in italics.