2007-10-23 Poetry, Waiting

Waiting.
Watching the fish,
Orange, black and silver,
Swimming, floating, flashing,
Hiding among the plants
Waving slowly in the current,
Swirling around the tank.
They have no thought,
No worry, no fear of the future.
Waiting.
Watching the clerks,
The admins, the technicians
As they call in
The patients, one after another.
Thinking to myself
How long has it been?
Waiting.
Looking back in time.
How many procedures?
Replacing the knee,
Mastectomy,
Replacing the knee
Chemotherapy --- you almost died.
Waiting.
Watching the sunlight
Flooding the skylights,
High on the ceiling,
Bright.
Almost as if this were Arizona.
Waiting.
Glancing at covers
Of old magazines --- Shooting Times.
Waiting.
How long has it been?
Thinking, where did it start?
Thyroidectomy,
Childbirth
P.M.S., panic disorder,
Hospitalization,
Infertility, laparoscopy,
Childbirth,
Lumpectomy and radiation,
Hysterectomy,
Mastectomy.
Waiting.
The TV flashes and chatters,
Unseen and unheard.
Another patient called.
What did we think
When the Doctor himself
Called to say that
The tumor markers,
The protein traces,
Now measured 78 instead of 25?
That there was a 98 percent
Probability of cancer,
Again,
Somewhere.
Waiting.
Wondering, what will we see
When the CAT scan is done?
When the Bone Scan is finished?
Waiting.
They said it would be 10 minutes,
Thirty minutes ago.
But I can hear your laugh,
Even from here.