Dad fell again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wait in a room,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
surrounded by broken bodies<\/p>\n\n\n\n
broken by a broken nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the drive here,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I saw a dozen men,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
misshapen, homeless,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
static or meandering among intersections,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
candidates for car crashes<\/p>\n\n\n\n
or falling down and dying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Outside a window,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
moss and English ivy<\/p>\n\n\n\n
degrade a brick wall,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
but look ornamental,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
kind of like<\/p>\n\n\n\n
American culture at work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wait to see<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the tattooed ER doctor again,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the one who sketched<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dad’s heart problem<\/p>\n\n\n\n
on a brochure<\/p>\n\n\n\n
announcing a prize<\/p>\n\n\n\n
for the best care<\/p>\n\n\n\n
bestowed by a nurse,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
nominated by a patient<\/p>\n\n\n\n
or member of the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The doctor said he should<\/p>\n\n\n\n
have sketched the heart<\/p>\n\n\n\n
on a tablet,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
but the tablet was gone,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
paper appeared,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
so why not put paper to use?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I also wait to see the<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russian nurse with a chin<\/p>\n\n\n\n
shaped like the clip of<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a Kalashnikov rifle,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a blonde woman<\/p>\n\n\n\n
ripped from a fancy perfume ad,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
who reacts to my questions<\/p>\n\n\n\n
with indifference so smooth and subtle<\/p>\n\n\n\n
it makes me smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you can smile<\/p>\n\n\n\n
awaiting news of your father’s fate,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
well, take it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’m going to nominate her:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNever before in a moment of crisis has<\/p>\n\n\n\n
a sullen disposition tasted so sweet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Where will the news convey Dad,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
convey me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I see Dad again<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know his first words:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cCall Dr. Kevorkian please.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’ll laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He’s not joking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then he’ll say:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI’m going to walk into the river.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It’s too far away, though,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
too rough and muddy<\/p>\n\n\n\n
from the storm<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to complete<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the poem of his long life<\/p>\n\n\n\n
that began in the Dust Bowl.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dad fell again. I wait in a room, surrounded by broken bodies broken by a broken nation. On the drive here, I saw a dozen men, misshapen, homeless, static or meandering among intersections, candidates for car crashes or falling down and dying. Outside a window, moss and English ivy degrade a brick wall, but look […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meditations","category-poetry","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author",""],"builder_content":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9331\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nestuccaspitpress.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}