Poetry – Page 14 – PLEASE SEE ME

The Daily Count of Lives—David Mellor

Poetry Issue #5: Heroes July 28th, 2020 July 28th, 2020 The Daily Count of Lives by David Mellor The Daily Count of Lives 746 (six fell in love more than four times) 673 (twenty had no regrets) 714 (five could still feel their first kiss) 643 (twenty-seven looked at photos of their loved one each morning) 547 (seven had contagious laughter) 517 (one hundred regretted that their beauty had faded) 468 (thirty-five had worked in the same job all their lives) 573 ...

A Resident’s Obligation—Ajibike Lapite

Poetry Issue #5: Heroes July 28th, 2020 July 28th, 2020 A Resident’s Obligation by Ajibike Lapite A Resident’s Obligation 1 || our lives before the virus: we slipped into the hospital before six +++in the morning; bought our first cup of coffee; sailed into work +++rooms and anchored ourselves to desks; we talked about patients +++and numbers and pathophysiology; we danced our way into patient +++rooms when they were asleep; we slipped our stethoscopes under the +++covers and heard the music of ...

My (Pet) Corona—William Blackburn

Poetry Issue #5: Heroes July 28th, 2020 July 28th, 2020 My (Pet) Corona by William Blackburn My (Pet) Corona —A message to our new friend Lean-to shanty roadside snack bar Butcher house of unusual tastes From those wet works you crawled Traded false hopes for troubled wheezing The gagging sneezing, dry heaving of the lungs Weeping eyes, and at times a final rest Fear abounding is nothing novel Crackdown, shakedown of the poorer classes Rooms as coffins dimly lit and jam-packed In these turgid times your labors ...

Three Poems—Paul Hostovsky

Poetry Issue #5: Heroes July 28th, 2020 July 28th, 2020 Three Poems by Paul Hostovsky Granted You took it for granted because it was. All of it. Every single swallow required the work of more than thirty muscles you didn’t know you had, much less that they have names, names you’re absorbing as you learn how to swallow all over again. And to speak— almost a hundred muscles involved in the act of speaking, says the speech therapist, who visits your room daily in your recovery. ...

PPE—Warren Paul Glover

Poetry Issue #5: Heroes July 28th, 2020 July 28th, 2020 PPE by Warren Paul Glover PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) Without it I play a game of Russian roulette except this gun has more bullets and my death, when it comes, will be slow and painful; a tragic treason behind the reason I came into this job in the first place: with a desire, a want, a need, to help others. Some call it a vocation. I may leave this job for the same reason; I ...

Those Unknown People of the Pandemic—Siyun Fang

Poetry Issue #5: Heroes July 28th, 2020 July 28th, 2020 Those Unknown People of the Pandemic by Siyun Fang Those Unknown People of the Pandemic That person who sat at his balcony, beating a gong to inform people that he had been infected. That person who ran after a hearse at midnight, crying with grief, yelling out, “It’s my mom.” That person who read The Origins of Political Order in the quarantine hospital where he had to share the ...

Six Feet Apart—Brenna Cameron

Poetry Issue #5: Heroes July 28th, 2020 July 28th, 2020 Six Feet Apart by Brenna Cameron Six Feet Apart The moon swells in a dark velvet sky. Stars glit and gleam. A blip of blinking lights goes by. “First plane I’ve seen in weeks.” Our shoes pad the pavement— my mother and I. Her chest heaves, like a plucked violin string, its exhale drowned in the coos of lullabies tangled in nearby trees. “The test was negative,” she told me days ago, though her doctor suspects it’s wrong. Our ...

Get Angel Wing Tattoos—Stephanie Valente

Poetry Issue #5: Heroes July 28th, 2020 July 28th, 2020 Get Angel Wing Tattoos Like It’s the Late 1990s by Stephanie Valente Get Angel Wing Tattoos Like It’s the Late 1990s she asks me why i am collecting tattoos careful dots grey shadows my dog’s face a witch, flowers mother mary, leaves wolves, a turn of phrase i say: i’m less attached to my body i almost lost it so many times cancer scares car accidents attempted murder i honor it like replanting seeds painting it with tributes survival vines, petals stitching my skin back ...

These Hands Must Speak—Rebecca Ramsden

Poetry Issue #5: Heroes July 28th, 2020 July 28th, 2020 These Hands Must Speak by Rebecca Ramsden These Hands Must Speak These hands measure the distance. These hands put on a mask. These hands wash frequently. These hands scroll the screen, witness leaders who only mask what they say, call this a hoax. Their legislation a sleight of hand, coffers quickly emptied of funds for small businesses onto the desks of overpaid elite. Each day these hands brush the hair of nurses, caregivers, service workers putting their lives, their children’s ...

Patience—Ermelinda Makkimane

Poetry Issue #5: Heroes July 28th, 2020 July 28th, 2020 Patience by Ermelinda Makkimane Patience The nurse checks the patient’s blood pressure. Adjusts the flow of the IV drip. Makes a note in the file. Washes hands. Goes to the next patient. Repeats blood pressure check. Repeats washing hands. This happens seven times. She is more patient than any of us here. To what extent does her patience extend? Ask the patient’s distraught relative who came running ...