When the wind blows

wish I had that fleece
(mossy mossy teeth)
the brown one, I think the color is Carob
(numb nasopharynx)
half dizzy, mostly cold
(Emergen-C, you're my only hope. Emergen-C, you're my only hope)
Cleaning rangetops with Clorox wipes
(banana tree moving compliantly, sounds like a man in the bushes)
About to make omelette, only to abandon the endeavor
(in the name of love, in the name of love)
Put on hard contacts and I can see my face
(consider the essay sent, consider new alarm clock purchase)
wonder about people and their rationales
(in the name of love, what more in the name of love)
today with two other nurses deconstructed the near dreadlock
of my patient who meanwhile grinned and mouthed words of contentedness
while we all fussed above her
(she is ten but just learning to use her vocal chords)
(there was lots of grape scented conditioner)
I watched as another patient's mother read her the Hungry Caterpillar
(my patient has no mother but has a doting biker daddy)
and couldnt look away.
Went up to see two previous patients on another floor
(one watched the Daily Show with me and showed me his knitting and played me the Star Wars theme on a recorder)
the other giggled in his crib while I pretended to eat his foot like corn on the cob
(he cycled his legs, kicked his mylar Elmo balloon for sport when he was in the ICU)
This could have been a novel
This could have been a short story