Waiting Room, Mercy Hospital


Visiting hours are about to begin.
We all smell the same -- like vinegar,
coffee and rotten bananas, like sadness
 
held for a long time. The man
in the corner nods over his brown

paperbag. In an hour, a nurse will tell
him again to leave. Along the wall,

a girl on a boy's lap hooks her fingers
through his belt loops, he caresses
 
her ears; they moan and weep about
Markie. A blessing, an old woman
 
in a housecoat says as she opens
the door to the street.  Someone
 
has gotten better or she has given
up. A blessing, she says, as rain
 
slams into the sidewalk. When
the door closes again I can hear
 
myself  breath. Behind me, someone
whispers on their cell, I'll be there,
stop it already.